Tales of Guardians
by Chaos Studio
Summary: It seems like there is always a war raging. Doesn't matter what the time, the setting, or the characters. Sometimes there is war to liberate an oppressed people, other times it is just a power struggle. But no matter what the circumstance, there will always be a Guardian, and war will always end in bloodshed.
1. Prologue: Where To Start

Tales of Guardians

Prologue: Where to Start

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: unknown

Time: 12:00 Galactic Standard Time

Star Cluster: HUB

Planet: Resident

Location: SOLDIER Institute, Headmasters Office

* * *

_Unknown POV_

"So where do we begin?" My cocoa skinned dorm mate started. He is unusually calm for what we just went through. Then again, I don't know how he can remain cheerful after that. I guess he really was a commander in the war.

"Why don't you start from the beginning." The man in the blue robe asked us. There were eight of us in the office now. The upperclassmen had already left after giving their reports before we entered.

"And how are we suppose to do that?" The silverette asked. "We don't even know where the beginning is, or if there is a beginning to this mess!" He had a point, I'm not even sure of what had just transpired.

"How about calming down Mister Fair. A clear head always finds its answer, even in the most trying of times." The wizard advised. It seemed to calm him down a little.

"Answers..." The ruby haired girl breathed out absentmindedly. She was stealing glances at our cocoa skinned dorm mate with the tribal platinum markings on his arm. After learning what we had just discovered, it's a miracle that she was so calm, but it was scary how confused she was. Then again, that was a pretty big bomb shell.

"..." Her blonde haired sister just rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her.

"If I had to guess where everything went wrong, it was probably when the Monarch showed up." The other blonde ponytail girl said.

"That..._thing_...was not the Monarch we knew." My raven haired sister added she had a gauss rapping around her head, it had a small blood stain on her left temple. I'm glad that monster didn't do as much damage than we first thought, but we were all in pretty rough shape. Tattered clothes, bandages on our arms and legs, even my my cousin had a bandage on his face from that scar Seifer gave him.

"Maybe we didn't know the Monarch as well as we thought." The cocoa skinned boy replied. That was the wrong thing to say us given what we had just learned about him.

The ruby haired girl looked up at the cocoa skinned guy at this point. "You're one to talk about knowing someone." Saw that one coming, I think everyone did. She stood from her chair and got in his face.

"..." He just kept silent. I don't know what was going through his head right now, but I'm sure he was feeling somewhat guilty...and probably scared. If I can go off what I have seen up till now and I not even certain about that.

"Calm down sis." The blonde tried to reason with her ruby haired amazoness of a sister, but I knew it was useless and I'm sure she did too. She already showed us that she can be very stubborn.

"You pranced around pretending to be our friend, but you've been one of _them_ this whole time."

"..." He just kept silent. How he could be so calm right now with everything that's been going on? He's been like that ever since we got back from that weird planet. _'A planet of ghosts best left forgotten.'_ That should've been a clue right there. Then again, a lot things that he's said should've been a clue right from the start.

"Aren't you going to say something? You've kept us in the dark long enough." The silverette cut in.

"You almost got us killed out there." My blonde haired look-alike cut in this time.

"Don't you guys think you're being too hard on him. He was just trying to save Radiant Garden." My raven haired little sister tried to alleviate some of the tension, but I doubt even she could diffuse this situation. Even I was a little upset at the whole situation, and I don't get angered that easily. The only reason I'm still calm is because he saved Xion from that fall.

"Oh come on Xion!" The silverette exploded from his chair. "You of all people should be furious at this guy! Just look at you!" He indicated the wrapping on her head.

"Miss Kokoro, Mister Fair, I would advise that you two calm yourselves..." The former head master cut in sternly, but even he couldn't quell this riot.

"And you!" The ruby haired girl exclaimed at the former head master. She really does have guts to yell at the most powerful wizard in the galaxy. "You knew!" She accused. "You knew all this time and didn't tell us."

"I felt it better to let you discover the truth about your friend naturally, rather than force you to accept the truth at face value." He replied quickly. Being the former Headmaster and the King of Disney Castle's teacher must have given practice in quick responses. Though at this point it's little more than a load of bull.

"Cut the crap old man." The silverette interjected. "Why would you need to keep something this big from us to begin with?"

"Would you have listened to me if he didn't?" The cocoa skinned boy finally piped up gaining the room's attention. "If I had told you the truth about me, would you have listened to my advise during the battle?"

Now it was our turn to fall silent.

"Would you have thought up a better plan immediately?"

We just remained silent. I wanted to say yes, I could tell our silver haired dorm mate wanted to say yes, too. He was probably thinking up an idea that could've worked on that gauntlet of a fight we just finished.

"And if you could, would it have saved everyone's lives? Even our classmates that now sit in the infirmary?"

This is not the guy I shared a dorm with at school. He always sang a different song every morning, noon, and night. He was always goofing around, even more so than me. This guy, this guy was cold like stone and calculating like a droid, even his Caribbean accent was menacing. That computer was right, he was a ruthless killer. The perfect child soldier.

"I thought not." Our dorm mates returned to their seat and he released an exhausted sigh as he held himself up with one hand on his lap and the other rubbing his head, probably his condition flaring up. "I understand your...irritation...at the situation." That's an understatement. "But for now, let's deal with the mission debrief. I'm sure our dorm supervisors will want to hear my tale as well."

"You better believe they will." The ruby haired girl spat out in a dark whisper.

"For now, we focus on the debrief."

"Yes, now tell us Mister Gospel, what happened on that planet?"

We all wanted to hear this explanation, especially given the circumstances.

"..." He was still silent. I guess even he didn't know how to explain it. "The Monarch...he turned into this...thing...I'm not sure what it was. Hell I'm not even sure that was the real Monarch." To be fair, none of us knew for sure.

"He said he was looking for something, a door I thing." I finally said my part after keeping silent through the whole thing. I don't think I could've added to the previous conversation anyway.

"Yes, I think it was called the Cradle." Xion replied.

"I thought it was called Kingdom Hearts." The blonde with the ponytail cut in. Either way, the former headmaster was not pleased to hear about this.

"I see..." The head master spoke in a low tone.

"What is it Master Yen Sid?" The ponytail girl asked.

"Miss Branford, I fear your dorm has stumbled upon something that the Time Lords and the Celestials have feared since time immemorial." He replied ominously.

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"That, Mister Hikari, would be-"

"The end everything." My cocoa skinned dorm mate interrupted. "And that planet, is the biggest key of all."


	2. Chapter I: Off To School

Tales of Guardians

Chapter I: Off To School

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: June 18, 2548

Time: 12:00 Galactic Standard Time

Star Cluster: Unknown

Planet: Lane Between

Location: Yen Sid's Tower.

* * *

"_One thousand years ago, the worlds were plunged into darkness as a war waged through the galaxy, a war to control all of creation, The Last Great Time War, fought between the Time Lords of the Planet Gallifrey and the Daleks of Skaro. The Time Lords fought long and hard to destroy the mechanized monstrosities that Davros, their creator, had genetically engineered. The Daleks existed only to destroy and hate anything that was not a Dalek. Eventually they turned on their creator and continued on their destructive path. The Time Lords decided that the Daleks were too dangerous to allow their existence, but the Daleks were too powerful to stop in the present." _

"_The Time Lords decided that the only way to stop the Daleks, was for the Daleks to have never existed. They ventured back in time, through the use of their TARDIS' and tried to stop the Daleks creation...they failed, and thus the Time War began. During the struggle, another race of galactic peace keepers stumbled upon the war and lent aide to the Time Lords in their struggle. That race known as the Celestial Being, or Celestials for short, from the planet Chaos._"

"_In the end there were no survivors and no winners. Only one Time Lord lives to this day and he recalls the one reason why the attempt to destroy the Daleks failed. It was due to a traitor from the Celestials, an individual by the name Orochi Akuto, a member of a covenant of beings more dangerous and more destructive than any Dalek. The Protectorate, the highest level of status that a Celestial can become._"

"_A faction of Celestials, lead by the corrupted Orochi Akuto, started a conquest of the worlds immediately after the end of the Time War. They tried to destroy our way of life and enslave us to their will. Were it not for the surviving Time Lord and the righteous Celestial force the worlds would have been decimated by Akuto's superior technology and spiritual powers. The war raged on for two decades before Akuto was defeated. The conflict did not end without cost though. In order to save the worlds and protect the rest of existence itself, the Celestials were sucked into a great rift along with their home world and the rest of Akuto's forces._"

"_To this day the worlds have not seen nor heard from the Celestials since the end of the war. The rest of the galaxy, broken and disjointed from the prolonged fighting, was flung into turmoil as countless wars broke out across the realm. Many wanted to unify the worlds under one, iron fisted rule. In the centuries to come many worlds were lost to darkness and death, each believing their way to be right and crushing those who opposed them. Many of them unleashing destructive monsters and demons upon the worlds. Forty years ago, the final pockets of war were quelled and the galaxy returned to a state peace and stability." _

"_The worlds have been working together since the end of the Fallout Wars to unveil the rest of our expansive galaxy. It was then that we made a startling discovery. A star, billions of years old in the Andromeda Cluster, past Demon's Run. The star itself had not existed there, or anywhere for the past thousand years, and it was moving. The star was moving towards an empty pocket that used to house the Celestial home world, Chaos. It was determine that this star appeared over two centuries ago thanks to astrological studies and photos."_

"_An expedition was sent to investigate the star and when they came back they relayed the most astonishing news to the galaxy. The moving star, was the Celestial Being, Chaos. The Celestials had returned and the galaxy waited with baited breath to see if the Time Lords' once powerful ally had triumphed over the remnants of Akuto's treachery or if the Celestials had succumbed to the corruption of Akuto."_

"That's what the textbooks say." The aged man in a sky blue wizard's robe said. He had a long twin tipped gray beard. He sat behind a large oak desk in a chair with green cushioning His beady eyes focused on the three figures that sat in front of him.

"Yes. We learned them long ago." One of the men replied. He wore a white hooded haori with red lining and trim that opened in the front to reveal a navy blue shirt with two gray straps that intersected in an X on his sternum and a tan hakama. He wore armored boots with a gold and black color scheme and a teal piece of armor to protect his mid-section. In the center of the mid-section armor was a blue strip of cloth and an emblem that resembled a heart on top that curled inwards at the twin peaks with three prongs underneath the heart. His hair was put up in a wild topknot ponytail and had a full mustache with a short beard. He had a scar over his right eye and left cheek.

"It was standard education. Instated by the founders of the SOLDIER Academy and required learning for all the students at SOLDIER." The other man said in a low, scratchy, elderly voice. He was bald with cocoa skin and piercing amber eyes. He had a gray goatee and eyebrows that showed the passage of time in his features. He wore a black coat with some gray overlay that started at the mid of his back and covered the length of his coat down to his black boot covered feet, the boots had silver trim around the top of the boots and soles. His hands dawned a pair of pure white gloves with button up cuffs and a black band around the wrists. He wore a white button up shirt with two belts around his waist.

"But is it really necessary Xehanort?" The white clad man asked. "The Celestials have not been seen in a thousand years."

"I do not think the last line is necessary anymore. Especially since Yen Sid and I have personally been to Chaos to greet the locals." Xehanort answered calmly, but with the tone a grandfather would take when advising his grandson.

"Really?" A high pitched squeak of a voice cut in. It came from the third, smaller figure to Xehanort's right side, a black mouse. He had large circular ears that appeared to be the same size as his head. He wore a red coat with black short sleeves and yellow straps that hung over his shoulders, a black shirt, red cargo pants with yellow pockets, and large yellow shoes.

"Yes, Mickey." Yen Sid replied. "We did venture to Chaos and we did speak with some of the locals."

"It would seem that they too had just finished a long civil war not five years ago. " Xehanort replied stroking his goatee thoughtfully.

"A civil war?" Eraqus repeated. "Why would Celestials wage a war against themselves?"

"It would seem that the remnants of Orochi's forces were quelled for a time, but resurged under a new leader. The uprising was quelled before another Celestial War tore through the Galaxy."

"If this information is accurate, then I think it is time the Celestials joined the rest of the galaxy." Mickey stated enthusiastically. "If Orochi Akuto's influence is gone, then we have no reason to fear them."

"I agree with you Mickey. The Celestials are not a war mongering race." Xehanort said. "But there are many who are suspicious of the Celestial people for the actions that Akuto took all those years ago."

"Then we have to show them that the Celestials are trust worthy! Maybe invite one of the Celestials to attend the academy this coming year!" Mickey stated enthusiastically. "If they can show themselves as trust worthy and sincere, then maybe the students can help alleviate any remaining suspicion."

The three older men eyed the mouse in surprise at his proposition, but the idea was appealing to them. "That is plausible, but if we were to invite a Celestial to attend the SOLDIER Academy we would not be able to help them in any way." Eraqus stated solemnly. "We may be four well known figures amongst the worlds, but even we cannot force people to accept the Celestial child or even give him a chance to prove himself."

The room feel silent at the remark. They knew what Eraqus said to be true. After the Celestial war, some of the denizens of the galaxy mistrust the Celestial people. Yen Sid calmly stroked his gray twin tipped beard as he pondered his thoughts. The issue of a Celestial attending the military academy would pose a great deal of controversy, but he had another matter that occupied his thoughts.

"While the enrollment of a Celestial would be troublesome, it is a risk we must take if we are to prepare ourselves for the future." Yen Sid commented.

"What do you mean Master Yen Sid?" Xehanort questioned as he raised an aged brow and stroked his goatee thoughtfully.

"We have endured a long peace these past forty years, but now I fear that time may be coming to an end and we may need to take up arms against an old foe with new allies." Yen Sid said ominously.

"What do you mean Master?" Mickey questioned.

"I do not yet know Mickey." Yen Sid replied as he reached into a drawer on his desk. He retrieved a folder with very little paper work in it. "Xehanort, Eraqus, since you two are the head masters at the academy, all decisions are left up to you since I have long since retired. But..." Yen Sid placed the folder on the desk and pushed it to the other side. "If you are confident in your abilities and are set on bringing a Celestial to the academy, then you have my full support."

"Thank you, Master Yen Sid." Eraqus replied.

"But, I do feel something in the air. Something foul indeed. Xehanort, I would like for you to take Eraqus and Mickey to the Wolf continent of Chaos and search for the boy in those files. He is in line to become the next Protectorate, one of seven if memory serves and the same group that Akuto hailed from. He has a kind disposition, very wise, and a sharp wit about him." Yen Sid explained in a sagely tone.

Xehanort picked up the folder and looked through its contents. "You mean...him?" Xehanort asked with an amused smile.

"Yes, that boy has great insight for his age and he is known for fixing any problem that comes his way. Though his personality is a bit...eccentric." Mickey and Eraqus leaned towards Xehanort in their chairs to get a better look at the photo. "I want you three to only focus on your activities concerning the Celestials acceptance into the social norm of the worlds." Yen Sid rose from his chair as did Eraqus, Xehanort, and Mickey who hopped down from his. "I have a matter to look into concerning our future."

* * *

_Sora POV_

"Sora! Wake up! Breakfast is ready!" I stirred in my bed as my sister called from down stairs. My room is a complete mess with clothes strewn about the floor. My bed covers were thrown off me with my sleep wear fully exposed.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. As you heard from my esteemed little sister, my name is Sora, Sora Hikari. I am the first born two siblings. Right now me and my sister are living with our older cousin Squall Leonhart, or Leon as he prefers to have people call him. I don't know why, he's weird like that. Squall's been staying with us ever since he started attending Balamb Garden as part of the SeeD mercenary program for school. He is three years older than me, four years older than Xion, at age eighteen with long brunette hair that falls to the mid of his shoulder blades. It's slightly darker than mine and less spiky than mine, then again, I don't think anyone alive has hair spikier than my hair. You could catch fish with my hair and the scary bit, it's naturally spiky.

The youngest of us being Xion at fourteen. She was born at the last possible cut off for school in order for her to attend the same grade as me. She had raven black hair and crystal cerulean blue eyes. She was the baby of us and we did nothing to hide it. As her older brother, I always got into fights with bullies that tried to pick on her because of her age and her shyness. She would end up defusing the situation by herself usually, she had an uncanny way of finding an abstract solution to problems. She usually does the housework, even more so in the last year.

Then there is me, Sora, I have extremely spiky brunette hair. The only feature I share between my sister is our cerulean eyes, we've always gotten comments about how our eyes are so beautiful, a trait our mother had. I don't have much to brag about seeing as I'm the lazy one. Don't get me wrong I do help Xion out around the house when I get home from school or hanging out with friends, but I am lazy at times and can dominate a game of Blitz Ball or Skating. The up side to my laziness is my extremely goofy personality. If you asked anyone who knows me, the first thing they would tell you is that I can make the best out of any situation and always put a smile on your face. A blessing after what happen to mom.

Well I might as well tell you guys what happened. About a year ago, our mother went on a business trip, she was an investigator and was looking into a lead at the time, we still don't know what it was she was investigating. She was headed to Radiant Gardens, a paradise planet about three systems away from ours. She left from our home, Destiny Islands, on January twenty-second twenty-five forty-seven. She booked a trip on a high class interstellar cruise ship and was moving across the Andromeda plane, near Midgar, when something happened. We don't know the full details, only that the ship was traveling through an asteroid field when it was torn to shreds and there were...no survivors.

We were devastated to say the least. That was when Squall really started to go by Leon publicly and also the time he became less cheery. He works hard to keep the house working while simultaneously going to school and keeping his grades above a B average, luckily mom thought ahead and left us some money just in case something happened, I would've preferred it go unused. Xion started taking up the house work full time rather than when Mom asked her too. Me? I kept being goofy, that's all I could do.

Our Mother was kind and loving, her name was Jinsei, it is from a language known as Japanese from a planet called Earth, I think, and it stood for life. She was beautiful, strong, and determined.

Mom's work often took her to dangerous places and put her on the bad side of some corrupt individuals. But she worked with reliable partners. So if anyone tried to hurt her, she would always have someone to protect her. Two people to be exact, well less people and more animal like. They were called Donald Duck and Goofy Goof. Donald was a white duck and Goofy a black dog and they were very good and dependable friends. After Mom died, they always came by to check on us and help me and Squall with the house when he needed it.

I still remember the day we found out about our mother's death. Me and Xion were coming home from school with our friends. We were going to study at our house and then play some games if we had time.

* * *

"So how's your mother's trip going?" Olette asked. Olette was kind and compassionate, not to mention the voice of reason in our little group. She had brunette hair that fell into two curly strands over her shoulders, her eyes were an emerald green and she wore an orange shirt with a yellow floral pattern and beige shorts and shoes with orange socks. She has such astoundingly good grades it's ridiculous! Straight A's since middle school and counting and to top it off, she idolizes our mother.

Olette always talked to Mom when she would come over and help the rest of us with our schoolwork. They were very good friends so it was no surprise that Olette would ask about her, heck, she was like an older sister to Xion. Olette wanted to be a journalist when she graduated college, so hearing about Mom's work always made her excited for when she would make that dream a reality.

"She's doing fine. She sent us a post card of Disney Castle when they came into port there." Xion replied.

"Did she meet Donald and Goofy? They've been partners ever since they exposed the Space Pirates Blastia smuggling on Terca Lumireis." Pence added. Pence was a...hefty fellow, yeah we'll go with hefty not that he was fat but he was...big. Pence was a cool guy to hang around, never said anything bad about anyone that didn't deserve it and very much into mysteries and unexplained phenomenon.

Pence's current obsession is why the Celestial home world suddenly appeared two hundred years ago when the Celestial war broke out eight centuries prior. He wore a red jersey over a plain white shirt and baggy jeans with blue shoes. His hair was jet black with a black and white trimmed headband wrapped around it so his hair would not fall over his face and he did not feel like getting a haircut like we all told him he should. The alternative, while clever, left his hair sticking upwards in a hilarious spectacle.

"Yeah, they were in the picture with her. Goofy was laughing at Mom because she was holding Donald like a stuffed animal." I replied. "The image of Donald's futile struggling against our mother's vice grip was humorous. As was the look he had on his face that said _'You're choking me!'_" I made an over exaggerated pantomime of Donald's, _'OH CRAP YOU'RE CHOKING ME WOMAN'_ face.

"Good luck, once Mom gets you in one of her hugs, there is no escape." Xion added with one of her cheerful giggles.

"I bet. You're mother is surprisingly strong despite how small she is." The last member and self declared leader of the group, Hayner, said. "I still remember that arm wrestling contest she challenged Leon to." He wore a gray vest and black tank-top with a Skull on the front that had an X on its forehead and a double X under it's jaw, the design looked like it had been drawn by a preschooler...or me. He wore woodland camouflage cargo jeans and matching shoes with a leather wrist band with two studs on adjacent sides and had gelled back spiky blonde hair that once again did not compare to mine. When we first met, he told me that I looked like an old friend of theirs that moved away ten years ago. I don't remember the name very well since the comparison was few and far between.

"I still can't believe she beat him as easily as she did." Pence added.

"It was funny how she yawned and with the straightest face possible asked. '_Whenever you're ready honey._'" We laughed at Olette's mimicking of our mother's nurturing tone and the image of Squall's face as it turned red from straining so hard to move Mom's arm. I think Squall would've burst a blood vessel if mom hadn't ended the match

When we got home we were surprised to see Squall sitting on the sofa, since he usually has class at Balamb Garden right around now, and Donald and Goofy. They looked to us with blank expressions on their faces and sorrowful eyes that told me something was wrong.

"What's going on Squall?" I asked. The suspicion evident in my tone.

"Sora...Xion..." Donald started in his squawking voice.

"You may want to have a seat for this." Goofy replied in a somewhat serious tone. Now I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but when Goofy is being serious you shut up and listen, so Xion and I sat down on either side of Squall.

"Hayner, Pence, Olette? Would you like to sit in on this?" Donald asked.

"Is it serious?" Hayner asked.

"Very." Goofy replied simply. Once again, the tone Goofy took was uncanny, it actually scared me to be in the same room as him. It was like he was addressing an army battalion or something.

"Then I think we should leave for now. What do you two think?" Hayner asked Olette and Pence.

"I don't think we should be here for this." Olette stated. She earned a stare from Hayner and Pence. They nodded in agreement, and I'm glad they did.

Pence looked back to us and gave a weary smile. "We'll see you guys later then." They left the house and then Donald told us the horrible news.

I am very grateful our friends left. What happened next, was not pretty...which I'll have to tell later, I really don't like talking about mother's death like this. Please understand guys, this is a sensitive subject.

* * *

As I got out of bed, nearly tripping over my assortment of loose clothing laying on the floor, I moved down the hall to the stairs in my black shorts and white sleeveless sleep shirt.

I meandered down the hallway and the stairs making my way towards the kitchen, past the hanging pictures of us and Mom. As I got closer to the kitchen I could smell the bacon, mmmm bacon, and eggs and pancakes. The scent of food finally woke me up enough to take in my surroundings, the oak dining table and matching chairs, the wood counter tops, and the various black pans hanging over the stove that my raven haired sister was cooking at.

Xion was still in his sleep wear, she probably woke and started fixing breakfast. Her clothes were similar to mine, except her fluffy red pajama pants had an ice cream pattern embroidered into them, sea-salt ice cream to be exact.

"Well look who decided to join the living." And there was the calm and jeering tone of our elder cousin Squall. He maintains this calm and mature disposition even when times got rough. He wore a plain white T-shirt, blue jeans, and a silver pendant on a chain that resembled a roaring lion's head with a raging mane, it was a graduation gift from one of Mom's trips when Squall was still in high school. He was reading the Destiny Island Newspaper "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine, until I had to wake up." I replied with a yawn. I took a seat at the dinner table, Squall sitting adjacent to me still reading his paper while Xion flipped a pancake in the kitchen behind him.

"If I don't wake you up, your stomach will." Xion replied with a chuckle. Even Squall laughed at the joke.

I was about to reply when. _'_g_rowl.' _That was my stomach reinforcing my sister's joke while adding comedic effect. Even my bowels are goofy, how does this work?! They just laughed harder at me.

"See?" Squall said with an amused smirk while Xion was chuckling like a hyena.

"Oh shut it." I replied bitterly.

"If you didn't wake up, I would've dragged you out of bed and down the stairs by your ankles." Squall added with a hmph. "So have you two decided where you're going for High School?" That's Squall for ya. Always to the point, and followed by Xion, who has probably got some idea of where she wants to go.

"I'm thinking about Twilight High in Twilight Town on the main land. Though I'm still not certain yet." Of course she would go there. It's a good school and Xion has an AB average not to mention she wanted to be an actor, and Twilight High is the best place for someone like her with their art program. I'd be shocked if she went anywhere else.

"You can definitely get in with your grades." Squall replied. He went to Balamb Garden, a military school that allows him to get paid for whatever it is he does. He never really talks about school, only that some dude called Seifer has been bugging him since the day he enrolled last year. All I know is that I don't want to meet the guy.

"What about you Sora? Any ideas? Probably not." Squall asked me. I hate it when he does that. You ever had someone ask you a question and then answer it before you ever get a chance to think of a reply? That really gets on my nerves, and worst part? He was right, I never once thought of where I should go.

"I guess it kinda slipped my mind." I replied rubbing the back of my head.

"Seriously? It's the second week of summer and you still haven't thought of anywhere you would want to go?" Xion asked me as she folded an omelet.

Oh, did I forget to mention that school let out two weeks ago and Xion and I graduated? My bad. "Give me a break guys. I barely made a B average in school. I'd only get in on my Blitz Ball career and even that's pushing it."

"Well you'd better find a place before the summer-" _'Knock, knock, knock.' _Whoever was at the door cut off whatever Squall was about to say. Thank you random occurrences!

"I'll get it." I rose from the table and made my way to the door. _'Knock, knock, knock'_ the banging of the door became more frequent with every second it took me to get there. "I'm coming!" I called out as I reached the door. I opened it to find two unexpected visitors for this time in the morning.

"Hi ya Sora!" The tall bi-pedal black dog Goofy greeted me with a bear hug.

"Mornin Goofy." I replied just as enthusiastically despite having my lungs crushed. He wore a yellow vest with an orange turtle neck, yellow pants, and a green hat.

But where there's a Goofy. "Hey!" There's always the squawking of Donald Duck, his voice matching Goofy's. He wore a blue sailor uniform over his torso and matching hat. I still don't know why though.

"Come on in guys." Squall called from the table.

"You guys want some breakfast?" Xion asked the two family friends.

"No thanks Xion." Goofy replied. "We've got somethin mighty important to tell ya." What could this be about?

"This doesn't sound good." Squall joked, having folded his paper up and placed it on the table.

Goofy and Donald eyed each other in confusion, but quickly dismissed it, being used to Squall's sense of humor.

"Do you want to tell them the news or should I Donald?" Goofy sounded like a kid waiting to tell his friends about a surprise party.

"I'll do it Goofy." Donald turned to us, Xion having placed our breakfast on the table and taking a seat across form Squall. "So have you two decided on where to go for school?" He asked me and Xion, we just shook our heads no. "That's good since you two are about to be separated." Wait, What?!

Talk about a mixed message, we were staring at them like a dear in head lights. After a year of living without our mother and two weeks into our summer of being junior high school graduates, we get hit with this? I seriously wonder if Cosmos has it out for us or if Chaos is trying to make our lives a living hell. Either way, this is not funny.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Xion replied trying to keep her calm.

"Exactly what Donald said Xion. You three are going to be separated soon. With Leon attending Balamb year round starting next semester the Destiny Island's legislation has dictated that anyone under age twenty can't legally care for anyone younger than them if they are not present at least eight hours a day." Goofy explained.

"That's not fair!" Xion exclaimed rising from her seat.

"Easy there Xion." Squall replied.

"How can you be so calm about this Squall?! They're threatening to pass us around to some random homes with strangers we know nothing about!" Xion was getting red in the face now, she was so livid at the news.

"I can be calm because Goofy and Donald are a little too chipper for the harbingers of bad news." Squall replied. That got Xion to calm done some, I could tell she was still pissed about the news, but she sat back down and waited to hear the rest.

"Ayuck, that's right Leon." Goofy replied with his form of chuckling.

"We found a way for you three to stay together and still be able to attend a school." Donald Squawked.

"There is a catch though, but if you're willing to try it then we can handle the rest, ayuck." Goofy added with a flex of his deceptively scrawny arms, he may look thin, but I've seen him help mom move a fridge BY HIMSELF! I seriously wonder what he does for a living.

Squall eyed Xion and me, we gave a collective nod and looked back towards Donald and Goofy. "What do we have to do?" Squall asked.

"It's actually quite simple, you three just have to attend classes at SOLDIER Academy year round until you two are eighteen, or until you graduate university. It's High School and University rolled into one and the entrance exam for high school guarantees acceptance to university." Donald began, we kept silent but let him know we were still interested. "With Xion's grades, Sora's athletics, and Leon's enrollment in Balamb Garden, we were able to get you three considered for the entrance exam."

"Actually, it would only be Sora and Xion who would have to take the exam. With Leon's enrollment in Balamb, he's automatically exempt from taking SOLDIER's entrance exam." Goofy added. "Since we work there from time to time, we have recommended Sora and Xion for the exam, ayuck. We can't guarantee that you'll be accepted into the school directly, but this is a very good alternative."

Squall leaned back in his chair, obviously mulling over the proposition in his head. I didn't know much about SOLDIER Academy, aside from it was a military institute and the fact that Olette's sister transferred there from Balamb. I don't think Xion knows either and since Balamb Garden is a military institute as well, I would assume that Squall knows more about it.

"SOLDIER is a long ways away." Squall said, I guess he was considering it.

"I wouldn't mind doing it, if only to prolong this situation till we can support ourselves." I added. "If this school offers food and board, then I wouldn't mind traveling away from here for a little while" While I didn't know where I wanted to go for college, I definitely wanted to fly a ship and maybe SOLDIER will let me pilot a few if I go. "What about you Xion?"

I could tell Xion wasn't okay with the idea of leaving the Islands or going to a military facility. She wanted to be a professional Actress and I doubt SOLDIER is going to offer anything in the way of art.

"If you're worried about enjoying your classes then you've got nothing to fear." Donald said, catching all of our attention.

"The first semester you two will be attending you'll have to take the basic requirement courses, but you'll be able to take any course ranging from art and theatrics to combat and quantum mechanics." Goofy added with a reassuring grin.

I know which courses I'm not taking.

"It's not the courses that concern me. What about our friends here? Balamb is just one system, who knows how far SOLDIER is from here." Remember when I said Xion was as timid as a turtle? She has a very hard time dealing with new people and making friends.

"SOLDIER is six systems over, Xion. Close to the Central Galactic HUB on planet Resident in th mid rim systems." Donald replied. "The exam starts in three days and if you two want to make it in time to take the exam then we have to leave today."

"And as for your friends..." Goofy started when the door opened revealing Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"They told us what everything already." Pence said.

"And we think you three should go for it." Olette's sister Selphie added. She the same brunette hair, although curled into loops on the sides and back of her head, green eyes, and a yellow sun dress

"So let's stop wasting time and get you guys packed already." Hayner stated impatiently.

"I guess it's decided then." Squall said as he got up from the table. "I'll pack my own things, just bring three bags of what you _absolutely_ need and meet down here to finish your breakfast, then we leave for planet Resident." He then went for the stairs so he could pack his things.

"Don't just sit there you two. You have a test to get ready for." Selphie replied enthusiastically as her and Olette pushed me and Xion up the stairs.

We were at the Cosmic Port three hours later, standing in front of Donald and Goofy's Gummi Ship. It was a large ship easily the height of a one story home and a fourth as long. It was red with yellow stripes and very cubic in appearance with a glass dome aft of the main body. If you asked me, I'd probably say that it wasn't possible for that thing to carry us across a highway, let alone faerie us between worlds. But it was very much capable and one of the many in standard use in the military and residential areas.

Donald and Goofy had already boarded and were getting the ship ready for the trip. Selphie was helping them, since she was headed back for the start of the school year, she decided to ride with us. From what they told us, it was going to take most of the three days to get there and when we arrive we'd only have two hours to make it to the faerie to take us to the Island SOLDIER Academy is located. Needless to say, I would be sleeping through the whole flight.

Pence was talking to Squall, probably to say something to him about looking after us and making sure we keep our grades up. If anyone else tried that tough guy act with Squall, they'd have shrunk under his gaze. With Pence, you just can't take him seriously. He's probably the only person who can make Squall grin.

I was chatting with Hayner and he was playing tough guy. "Make sure you study Sora." he said with folded arms. "Olette is not gonna be there to help you study so you need to focus."

"Relax Hayner, I can handle myself." I replied feigning annoyance and flashing my oh so goofy grin.

He put me in a head lock as a response, but he was still laughing. No one can resist my grin.

"Just take care of yourselves. We'll try to visit if we can."

"We will Hayner, you worry too much."

* * *

_Xion POV_

Hayner was talking to Sora. I don't know what they were talking about since I was talking to Olette.

"Looks like this is it." Olette said with a sad smile.

"Yeah..." I replied wearily.

"Don't sound so glum Xi. It's not like we aren't going to see each other again." She tried to reassure me. I know she's right, but it's still hard to leave. I mean, Olette is my best friend. She was the first one to talk to me in middle school when I was too shy to interact with anyone.

"Don't tell me you're scared to make new friends." It was more a statement than a question. She never was one to beat around the bush.

"C'mon Olette, you know I don't do well around people."

"Not with that attitude you don't. Just relax and be yourself. If they don't like it, then guess what? They aren't worth your time." Olette placed an arm around my neck and led me to the ramp where Sora and Hayner were standing. I guess Pence was done talking to Squall since he was standing by them now.

"We plan to visit when we have time." Hayner stated.

"We'll be sure to write you guys." Olette added. "In the mean time, I got you a going away present." She took out holding a small ball of paper and handed it to me. I unwrapped it and took out a hand made tan pouch with a blue diamond stitched in the center and a red emblem. It was soft and felt very delicate, but it was also elegant and simple at the same time.

"I made that myself when school let out." Olette told me. "I was saving it for your birthday, but this is just as good."

"Thanks." I hooked the pouch to my belt strap by its pull strings. "I'll take good care of it."

"Good, now get going. You got an exam to ace." Hayner replied with a cocky grin.

We walked up the ramp and placed our bags behind the passengers seat.

"You three ready?" Goofy asked.

"Seems like it." Squall replied for us. He sat on the far right side with Selphie and Sora in the middle and me on the left..

"Then buckle your seat belts and get ready for lift off."

We looked out the window to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette wave to us from a safe distance as the ships engines hummed to life. I waved back meekly as did Sora, Squall just propped his head on his hand as we began to ascend while waved back energetically..

I kept waving at them as they grew ever smaller. Soon they looked no bigger than ants and then they were swallowed by the Cosmic port's silhouette as it continued to grow smaller. Eventually I was waving to the planet and eventually the spot of light where it occupied space, I stopped waving after that and turned to face the back of the co-pilots seat where Donald was sitting.

"So do you guys want to hear about the test now? Or Later?" Donald asked.

"Sure, the sooner they know the better." Squall replied for us. I saw Sora groan silently, since it probably implied him to study the whole trip.

"Don't worry Sora, you won't have to study much." Selphie replied, which made me very curious. She was on the student council and excelled at anything you threw at her...despite her being a klutz. Serious, I have no idea how someone so diligent can be so clumsy. Back when she and Squall went to Balamb together, she apparently tripped over a small hill during one of their field trips.

"If this test is so big, than wouldn't we have to study a lot to prepare?" I had to ask, though the answer I was about to get mad me wish I hadn't.

* * *

_Kairi POV_

As you can tell from the subtitle, my name is Kairi Kokoro, age fifteen, Ruby red hair, cerulean eyes, smooth creamy skin, and bored out of my MIND!

I live in Radiant Gardens, a beautiful bouquet, see what I did there, of brick and stone houses that formed into a large disk and meadows of lush green grass and a pallet of different colored flowers with pristine sparkling water all around and through the town.

I was in our 'gym' in the back of the house. Mom and Dad always used it for practice and the like. I was practicing my hand-to-hand skills on the sand bag. I had gotten better since I was younger, I enjoyed boxing at a young age. I plan on practicing the speed bag later. I may be strong but I need to e quick as well if I want to be effective.

To give a little context, junior high let out two and a half weeks ago and I had to clear my calendar for the first part of summer. The reason being? I'm waiting for my sister to give some news regarding a certain...issue. She hasn't heard anything regarding it and said that today will be the absolute latest that I'll have to wait to hear anything in regards to it.

In the mean time I'll just keep beating away on this bag until my arms fall off. I'm wearing a white spaghetti strap top and sea blue shorts with a very cute star shaped fruit on one side, what was it called again? Paopu? I think that's what it's called...anyway, it's a really pretty fruit that's said to have _'mystical powers' _for anyone who eats it. I don't know if the legend is true or not, or even if the fruit even exist, but I digress.

The gym didn't have much in the way of equipment, besides a sand bag and speed bag, it had an open section for sparring and going through the motions of a fighting style. It matched the aesthetics of the the house what with a floral painting on the wall and bright white walls, I won't mention much about it since it has no context to what will happening later, but at least you'll know how we live. It was a very luxurious house with open space and pristine view of the gardens and lakes. I live with my grandmother and two sisters which you should meet later on. Depends on how the author decides to write this part.

_**I seriously hope you guys don't make breaking the fourth wall a thing in this series.**_

It's a point of view fic man, what do you think?

_**...I'll get the spackle.**_

While the author is off fixing the fourth wall, let's finish this exposition shall we.

Anyway, I was still punching away on the sand bag, occasionally kicking it to add some variety. The radio blared in the background so I had some noise while I work out the current station I was listening to was GNR or Galactic News Radio if you want to say the whole title. The speakers had a generic reporter that everyone has seen on seen on TV before: blonde, tan business suit and tie, been working a few years, really stupid/serious look on is face. Basically the lovable eye candy until he gets his first gray hair. I think his name Villiers, or something like that. He was talking about the current events and happenings in the worlds.

"_In recent news, the Imperial City Zaphias has yet to decide on the succession of the throne. It is a mystery why the Council has yet to announce a successor or even locate a legitimate heir..."_

The same usual politics and recent events as always. I never really liked politics, they always seem to be full of hypocrites and liars.

"_Colonization efforts into our vast galaxy have progressed at an exponential rate since the tragedy of Midgar where a passenger liner was shot down and destroyed last year leaving no survivors. This was one in a string of incidents involving similar circumstances throughout the Andromeda Cluster. There has been much speculation as to the culprits behind this campaign of murder. A main culprit are the Space Pirates under the command of the notorious Ridley. Another and widely believed culprits being the Celestials since the weapons used are consistent with the ones used by Orochi Akuto in the Celestial war a millennia ago."_

The Celestials...that race has been responsible for a lot of wars and massacres since the end of the Celestial War. We had just finished, what the galaxy hopes to be, the last of the _'Fallout Wars'_ as they have been dubbed by the history books. The Fallout Wars finished about forty years ago, give or take half a decade, each one having a different title to it, with different goals, but all stemming from the same source.

The ship they were talking about was called the _Savant_. My parents was serving on that ship as part of a covert mission to recon the Celestial home world and see if they had finished off the remnants of Akuto's army, so we would know if the Celestials were still our allies or we needed to prepare for another Celestial war. Since my parents are dead and the very concept of the Space Pirates having some kind involvement was not thought of until three months ago, my gut is on the Celestials...but I have no proof.

"Hey sis, what are you doing?" The soft greeting of my younger twin sister Naminé called from behind me. She has the same eyes as me and my other sister, which you will meet soon hopefully. Naminé wore a similar white top to me with short beige pants. She had the same Aqua blue eyes as me, but had long blonde hair that fell over her right shoulder and curled slightly. Her skin was slightly paler than mine, but it was hardly noticeable unless we stood side by side.

She walked in through the kitchen door, holding a sandwich and sketch pad, she loves to sketch and wants to be an artist, but the only school that has a decent enough art program for her skill level is the same school I'm trying to get into. Which I will not tell just yet. She took a seat on the bench by the door and started sketching away in her book.

"I'm just listening to the news while I work out. The same boring stuff that's always on. They mentioned the Colonization attempts though." The boredom in my voice was very evident as I hit the sand bag once more before moving to the speed bag, the mention of the Colonization issue did strike a chord with Nam, and not for the reason you would think.

"You still want to know about the deaths don't you?" It was more a statement than a question.

"I've already solved it, I just need some proof."

"And how do you know you're even right? Just because Chaos happens to be moving through the Andromeda Cluster, doesn't mean they had anything to do with the Savant's destruction." She was very much trying to reason with me, but I am a very stubborn person and I kept to my guns.

"The weapons used to destroy the Savant were a combination of energy and projectile ammunition. The only species known to use this kind of weaponry were the Celestials." I was trying to keep myself calm and collected. Every time I talk about this subject I tend to get a little angered by the thoughts and connections that formed in my head I focused on hitting the speed bag. I just kept hitting the speed bag faster and faster to avoid exploding on her. "And the last time the weaponry was used was-"

"By Orochi Akuto's army during the Time War and the Celestial War. Isn't that right Kairi?" I was cut off by the mature voice of me and Nam's older sister Aqua. She was older that us by two years and, just to keep the oddly inconsistent yet natural hair color trend gong, had natural short blue hair that cleanly raged to the left side of her head and Aqua blue eyes.

She wore a black and blue high-collared halter top with white stitching on her torso and two pink intersecting straps that formed to an X on her back and chest being connected by a silver badge. She said her Master wore something similar to show who he personally taught. She had on black shorts and thigh high stockings, pointed silver and black armored boots with a sharp hook on the outer side of each. She had on a white sash, that looked to be tucked under her top slightly, that formed to a loop on each of her thighs over two sea blue drapes on her hips. On her arms are white bell-sleeves with segmented armor on each of her upper arms and tan fingerless glove.

"Just because the weapons are similar, doesn't mean that the Celestials are responsible for our parents death. For all we know, the Space Pirates could have found an old relic from the war and used it to draw suspicion away from themselves." Aqua always considered the possibilities, one of the lessons her Master taught her. She had a good point, most of the Celestial's technology was sucked into the rift along with their home world. Anything that escaped it was flung far across the galaxy.

"If that was the case, then why did it take a year to even consider that possibility? It should have only taken two months at the very most!" I punched the bag extra hard to emphasize my point. Honestly I was being overly stubborn at this point, but losing loved ones is never easy. It doesn't help that one of the suspects has been under scrutiny ever since their home world was discovered. The other, they don't have the backbone to attack a SOLDIER transport vessel!

"..." Whether it was because Aqua knew I was right or she simply didn't feel the need to continue the argument I wouldn't know.

"Anyway." Nam cut in changing the subject. "What about our enrollment? Did we get in?"

Somehow I completely forgot about our enrollment. The main reason I had cleared my schedule for summer. Thank you Naminé! I stopped my abuse of the speed bag and gave Aqua my full attention.

"Well..." Uh oh, I don't like the sound of this at all. Don't tell me we didn't get in Aqua! "I gave my Master your enrollment papers, but he told me that they were approaching the one hundred recruit limit." Aqua's solemn tone was like daggers in my soul. I looked to Naminé to see her in the same state of disappointment as me, and that's tough since she's always the optimist.

I lowered my head in defeat. "So we-"

"Obviously got in!" Oh no she didn't just do that. That cheeky grin on her face said it all. I can't believe she pulled that stunt on us.

"What?!" Naminé asked in surprise. Aqua moved to a window on the far wall, next to the radio and sand bag I was wailing on earlier and tapped it lightly with a very satisfied and very smug grin on her lips.

"Your enrollment into SOLDIER was accepted." She flicked the radio off so there would be no distractions.

"YES!" Naminé and I exclaimed as we practically tackled Aqua. "We're in!"

"Not necessarily you two." Aqua said as she managed to pry us off of her. "You still have to pass the entrance exam."

"We'll pass it easily sis!" I stated confidently, there was no way I was going fail at this point.

"So you say, but I hear that the test is going to be slightly different his year." Aqua warned me. She has this habit of poking people in the head to calm them down when they were getting over zealous. Which she did to me, and ever since her training at SOLDIER she tends to leave a slight bruise now.

"How so?" Nam asked while I rubbed my forehead, I already felt the soreness coming.

"I don't know. The Headmasters aren't telling anyone the details. All we know is that it will be different from what I had to go through." Aqua's face went pale at the memory of her entrance exam. She wouldn't go into detail about it without her eye twitching and she usually answered with one word. "Yiazmat..." There's the twitching brow. I still don't know what a Yiazmat is, and I'm kinda curious to find out.

"Well we'd better start packing." Nam said changing the subject.

"Right! The test starts tomorrow and we have a one day trip ahead of us." I exclaimed. I began to head for the door when we were interrupted by~.

"And where are you getting ready to go?" The aged voice of our grandmother called as she, too, exited out of the kitchen. She wore a simple blue Sunday dress and had her gray hair tied into to a topknot.

"We got accepted into SOLDIER, grandma." I replied.

Grandma grimaced slightly, I already knew she wasn't that pleased with us going off to SOLDIER. She already lost Dad and Mom. So it's to be expected, though she never really tried to talk us out of it after Aqua joined.

"So you two are going to join SOLDIER as well?" She stated more than asked.

Me and Nam were a little hesitant to answer her, since we both knew how she felt about violence and murder, but we had to respond. "...Yes." We replied.

"I don't need to remind you how I feel about this decision." Grandma replied glancing at Aqua. Grandma and Aqua had an argument about Aqua's choice to join SOLDIER. When Aqua said she wanted to help the worlds like Mother did, well, Grandma didn't try to convince her otherwise after that. I guess she knew that Mom's stubbornness was inside all of us.

"We know Grandma." Aqua replied, Aqua and Grandma are still close now, despite Grandma's apprehensiveness towards Aqua's SOLDIER attire. I still wanna know where she got those clothes, but that will have to wait. "I'll look after them for the first year their there." That's Aqua for ya, always the protective type.

Grandma nodded, she looked at me and walked in my direction. "Kairi. I know how you feel about the Celestials..."

I see where this is going. "I'm not obsessed you guys. I know I can go a little overboard, but it's not like I lose sleep over this."

"Kairi, you kinda are." Thanks Naminé, really appreciate the support.

"None the less, I would like you keep one thing in mind and that goes for you two as well." She was addressing all of us now.

"Yes Grandma?" We replied in unison.

"Nothing is ever black and white. Sometimes the right answers, however difficult it they be to find, are a few grades in between. Keep that in mind, and you'll find your way in life."

"We will Grandma!" We exclaimed as we rushed over to Grandma and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Come on Naminé, we need to pack if we're going to get to the Cosmic Port in time." I grabbed Naminé by her wrist and pulled her through the kitchen to the stairs.

* * *

_Aqua POV_

After my little sisters left me and Grandmother alone, I felt like a talk was coming on.

"How is School Aqua? I hope you are taking good care of yourself."

"I'm doing alright Grandma. How are you holding up?"

"My grandchildren are off to the institute that took my only son and the mother of his children. Oddly enough, I feel...at ease." That was unexpected, especially coming from Grandma.

"Is that so? I feel a little nervous. Kairi's obsession with the Savant incident has me worried." I really was worried about Kairi. She was probably closest to our parents at the time. I was always busy and Naminé was off at art competitions since she was seven. So Kairi would be left alone with them.

"She will be fine. Kairi is head strong just like her father, but she has your Mother's self control. She won't do anything that could hinder her search for answers." Grandma had a point. Kairi won't do anything crazy, at least for her first two years at SOLDIER. Until you're a Junior in the High School division of SOLDIER, you don't get sent on actual missions.

"And if she doesn't, I'll be there to keep her in check." I replied. I started walking towards my sister's rooms so I could help them pack. We only have twelve hours to get to Resident and I am curious to see what the Headmasters are planning for the entrance exam. I wonder what the author has planned for the special event.

**_Dang it, Aqua! I just finished fixing that!_**

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

**_Oh for the love of...where'd I put that spackle?_**


	3. Chapter II: Last Minute Cram Session

Tales of Guardians

Chapter II: Last Minute Cram Session

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: June 21, 2548

Time: 14:53 Galactic Standard Time, 05:10 Resident Time

Star Cluster: HUB

Planet: Resident

Location: High Orbit, Fifty Minutes to Touch Down

* * *

_Sora POV_

"_...Choice..."_ There's that voice again.

Hey guys, its Sora again. Looks like you dropped in just in time for this little event.

"_...Choice..."_

The echoing voice? That's been happening for about three months now. I keep having this dream. That I'm falling down this endless black void. Just falling and falling and falling some more. While I fall there's this voice going on about a choice.

"_...You will make a choice."_

Wait, it's never said this before.

"_Life and Death. The choice will be up to you."_

Okay, now I'm a little concerned. What is this thing talking about?

"_Remember, should you choose wrongly, all that you care for will suffer and die."_

What is that suppose to- "...ra..." What now? "...Sora..." I think someone is trying to wake me. "Wake up, Sora!" whoever it was is screaming in my ear now. _SMACK!_

I jolted awake when my face was suddenly hit by a deceptively soft hand. "It's about time! We've been trying to wake you up for the past five minutes." Xion told as I looked around the cockpit. I noticed that Selphie was massaging her right hand, guess who woke me up.

"Why?" I asked, completely neglecting one important and impending detail. "We still have twelve hours till we get to Resident."

"That's why we were trying to wake you up Sora." Squall cut in. "The only way to get you to wake up was for Selphie to smack you since she was the closest out of us."

"How hard is your skull anyway?" Selphie questioned while she still massaged her hand.

"Anyway..." Squall said refocusing us. "The reason why we woke you up is because of that." He pointed to the windshield of the Gummi Ship.

I saw a large blue planet, much bigger than our home and covered in much larger continents. If I had to say, where our home world was covered in seventy percent water, this planet was covered in about sixty-five percent with continents of varying sizes and shapes. I'm guessing that's Resident since we were heading straight for it.

"We're going to land in about thirty minutes Sora." Xion told me. That explains why they woke me up. I guess I slept through the twelve hours I thought we had.

"Do you guys have everything you need for the test?" Donald squawked from the co-pilots seat as he tapped on some buttons to make a course correction and descent vector.

"I have my two Gunblades in my bag." Xion replied.

In case you are wondering. When Squall started living with us, Xion would pester him non-stop to teach her how to use a Gunblade. After a week of constant pestering from Xion, Squall caved and started teaching her how to use his Gunblade. It was a large two handed blade with eight slots on a revolver clip. Xion, of course, couldn't lift it. It was a good thing Squall knew how to make those things or he wouldn't hear the end of Xion's pestering. He made her a shorter more streamlined Blade that was as wide and long as her leg with a smaller six slot clip with two short barrels on each side, no bigger than an inch length wise and two inches width, with a groove leading from the openings for the bullet to travel and rotate along. Why does Xion have two if Squall only made one? Xion was a fast learner when it came to things she was interested in and figured out how to make one by watching Squall. She added a black cloth grip to complement the icy blue grip Squall had made for her.

"I'll have to improvise something if I'm going to survive this test if it's as physically inclined as you said Selphie." I didn't bring a weapon, I had no need to since I didn't have one to begin with. So I just decided to improvise when we got there.

"They should let you choose your weapon when you enter if you don't have one." Selphie placed a finger on her chin as she thought aloud. "But if they don't, you'll have to be extra careful when you're by yourself Sora."

"I will Selphie."

"Are you sure you can't tell us anything more than we'll have to take part in a survival simulation for the test? Aside from having to wear an old shirt and jeans." Xion asked Selphie, I could tell the worry in her voice. She was probably scared of what a military institute might put her through.

Selphie looked at Donald and Goofy before she whispered to me and Xion. "I'm not sure if this is true, but I hear the Headmasters are planning something special for this year's exams." We leaned in closer so we could hear more clearly. "Rumor has it that this year's exam will be a team based one. I'm guessing you'll be graded individually on your performance and how well you can coordinate. Probably in response to the increasing bratty attitude among Resident's nobility."

"Is there a chance me and Sora will be on the same team." Xion asked in a whisper. I would like for her to be on the same team as me so I could keep an eye on her, but I'm not sure how good our chances are of that happening.

"Hmmm, if it is team based, then the chances of you getting teamed together in a group is pretty low since you would be up against one hundred examinees."

Xion lowered her head in discouragement at the response Selphie gave. "Oh..."

"Don't worry, just keep your chin up and do your best." Selphie tried to encourage us.

The ship suddenly began to shake when we hit the planet's atmosphere. I looked ahead and saw a large gray cloud hovering over an island, probably fifty kilometers wide at least. Donald looked over the co-pilot seat and told us the bad news. "Looks like we're coming in during an electrical storm." That's what I was afraid of, entering a planet's atmosphere during an electrical storm is never a good idea. "You'd better buckle up. We're going to try to navigate through it."

We did as told and strapped ourselves in. Xion clung to my shirt pretty tightly, she never was one for thunder and lightning. Selphie clung to Squall, much to his annoyance. I glanced over Xion's head and saw another ship making a faster descent through the cloud. I couldn't make out anything specific about the ship, only that it was another model of Gummi Ship, probably a military model.

Before I could attempt another look at the ship, the cabin went dark as we passed through the storm. Gray clouds shifted and moved out the way as we cut through them. I looked to our fearless pilots, their faces highlighted by the blue lights of the LED dashboard. Donald was typing furiously and Goofy was making subtly adjustments to avoid the lightning that struck around us. Before I knew what was happening we had passed through the clouds, all turbulence stopping and allowing for a smooth final descent. I looked at the Island I initially thought was only fifty Kilometers wide. This thing was a chain of Islands spanning the course of twenty thousand kilometers.

I quickly glanced back over Xion's head to the ship from earlier. I couldn't see it, but I didn't have to look long to find it since it had already flown in front of us and was heading towards an island near the left end of the chain, the second smallest from the looks of things. I guess that's where the faerie to SOLDIER is since we were heading there too.

I could make out a little more from the other ship now, it looked similar to ours in design except it had a dual barreled canon on the underside and was black with red stripes for a color scheme.

"Say, that's looks like his highnesses ship." Goofy said pointing at the ship.

"It IS his highnesses ship. I wonder what he's doing here." Donald squawked.

His highness? Does that mean it's a king we're following? Nobody really asked the pilots since Xion was still hiding from the thunder using my shirt and Selphie was just bobbing her head back and forth and humming to herself. Squall was just looking out the window at the smallest island that grew as we approached the Cosmic port on the second largest island.

* * *

We touched down not long after and started down the ramp. Just as Donald and Goofy told us we had exactly two hours to reach the faerie or we would miss the exam. Luckily the Cosmic Port is located ten minutes from the faerie and a place to eat. We all stopped in and ordered some breakfast. I'll spare you the description, but we learned that the storm wouldn't be letting up and was going to down pour soon. We finished eating and made our way to the faerie where we boarded with the other examinees. Donald and Goofy told us our things would be shipped to our dorm rooms upon our completion of the exam, the Institute will send someone to the ship to pick them up. Squall, Xion, and Selphie brought their weapons of course.

There were quite a few people here, not enough to fill a cruise ship, but there were around thirty to thirty-five people here, everyone dressed in casual wear, but had their weapons on them. There was one that stuck out to me vividly from my Blitz Ball days.

"Hey Sora!" The blonde called to me. He wore shorts with his family logo on it and a white shirt with Blitz Ball written in blue with a water background around it.

"Hey Tidus, what are you doing here?" I knew Tidus from our days as friendly Blitz Ball rivals. He played for the Zanarkand little league and always bragged on how he would make the major leagues and out do his dad Jecht, the best Blitz Baller in existence.

"My dad enrolled me here. Said it would teach me some discipline." I could hear the annoyance in his voice, but Tidus would be fine. He always groans at first, but given enough time, he would adapt and deal with it.

"_Arrival at SOLDIER Island in five minutes."_ The Faerie man called over the loud speaker. Sure enough we were approaching the Island.

Most of the island was foliage, I'm guessing to preserve some of the island's natural beauty, but we could still see the facility in the distance due to some of its buildings towering over the tree line. We soon came to dock and followed the path to the facility and soon enough we were there, gathered in the courtyard and awaiting an address from the exam proctor. Squall and Selphie had already made their way to their dorms where they could watch our performance. Yeah, you heard right, _watch_ us take the exam. Do the upperclassmen just sit around and watch the freshmen run around frantically and laugh? If that's the case then I'd better be on my toes or I may end up on someone's hit list.

Anyway the courtyard was wide and expansive, easily able to accommodate one thousand students. It looked to be the central hub for moving from class to class. The center had a marble fountain, it wasn't too spectacular, but it was enough to let us know that even though it was a military academy it was still a school first and foremost...well that and the walking brooms sure helped alleviate any tension. The rest of the Institute had various well-kept hedges and trees dotted around with flowers to help lighten the atmosphere while we waited. Soon more and more examinees showed up and we numbered around a hundred by the time the last boat showed up. One of the walking brooms came by and handed us blank transparent cards. I'm not sure what they are for though I'm sure it's part of the exam.

Xion and Tidus were right next me. The thunder storm looming overhead still had Xion spooked, but she did her best to not look scared. Tidus had his hands on the back of his head and a large blue sword on his back, about as wide as Squalls, except had a hook at the end and I could've sworn there was actual water _in_ the sword. If that wasn't weird enough for you then how about the fact that there were actual bubbles radiating off the blade, freaking. BUBBLES! How does that even work?

"Listen up you greenhorns!" a gruff voice called over the loud speaker. His voice echoed through the forest, you could hear birds flying away for a second. We turned to the source to see a main in gray combat overalls, cargo pants and gray combat boots and a gray short sleeved shirt with matching hat, just gray everything. The only that wasn't gray was his brown skin and black hair you could tell he was in his late twenties and built like a military man.

"Many of you are probably wondering. _'Who is that and why did he call us greenhorns?'_" That wasn't very far off from the truth. "Well I'll tell ya." His voice sounding of sarcastic joy. "I am Avery Johnson. Staff Sergeant of the UNSC. That's United Nations Space Command for those of you who don't read or keep up with the local news. I should also mention, in case some of you think you can just brush off what I will be saying in the next few minutes, that I am a member of the ODST, Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, aka Hell Jumpers." How does a group get nicknamed Hell Jumper? "If you're wondering about the nickname I'll make you a deal, pass your exam and take one of my gym classes." I saw a small smile form on his lips. "I'll tell you all about it."

"_He's_ the gym teacher?" I said to no one in particular, but I could see that everyone else thought the same too just by looking at some of their faces.

"Now, I will be proctoring this exam. I also designed the conditions of the exam." Oh boy. "But seeing as how I only designed ten different scenarios for you to take your exams, I figured I'd make this interesting for the upperclassmen and the headmasters to watch." I'm hoping this is going where I think it's going. "This year's exam will be a team effort." Yes! Thank you Cosmos! "Under one condition." Screw you Chaos! "This will be a survival scenario. As a group of ten, you will be dropped into one of ten scenarios since there is only ninety-nine of you, one group will be at a disadvantage. I will let you know now, scenario seven is the toughest of them all. Pray that your teammates are competent and hope to lady luck that you are not the handicapped group or get scenario seven. Any questions?" Sergeant Johnson asked.

No one replied, it was pretty self-explanatory. "Good, now you were given a card when you arrived. Currently the cards are blank. In a moment I will press a button and the card will light up with a number. Two of our current students will be holding a card with the same number. They will be your dorm advisors should you pass the test. You'll make their school year easier if you fail." He half-jokingly added. "You will find your dorm advisors and they will escort to one of SOLDIER's many simulation rooms for your exam. That is all." With that Sergeant Johnson tapped the pedestal, probably the button to turn the cards on, and walked away from the pedestal.

The twenty upperclassmen walked out and spread out around us so the groups wouldn't get cluttered or wonder off with the wrong group.

"I got ten." Tidus said as he looked at the green image on the transparent card. "What about you Sora?"

I reached for my card and noticed that Xion had seven on her card. I looked at mine and saw the same thing. "Seven. Same as Xion." I replied, my relief palpable.

"Ah, man." Tidus half pouted. "I guess, we're rivals again huh?"

"Looks like it." I chuckled. "Good luck on your exam."

"Just pray you aren't the group with nine members." Tidus replied as he took off towards his advisor.

I looked around for me and Xion's advisor and saw a number seven held over a girl with long brunette hair. I already saw a group forming near her and the blunette next to her. "Come on Xion, let's go meet our group." _BOOM!_ "Before it starts to down pour." She nodded meekly as we moved towards them.

* * *

_Aqua's POV_

"Avery certainly did a good job of putting the freshmen on edge." The brunette next to me said. She wore all black. A black tank top with matching leather gloves. Black shorts, much like mine, with a long black drape that feel to her ankles and black and white sneakers.

"At least he didn't try to treat them like military recruits, Tifa." I replied.

Right now there were four of our advisees and two more on the way. The two of the four in front of us were my little sisters, Kairi and Naminé, in accordance with the dress code they were wearing old clothes for the transmutation later, nothing special just some shorts and an old white shirt. Nam brought a plain staff to use, no blades, no maces, just a plain old wooden pole. Kairi plans to let her fists do the talking I'm guessing.

The other two were obviously male. One had silver hair down to his shoulder blades. He looked like he kept it well cut since it wasn't in his teal-green eyes. The other was...different. I guess no one told him to bring old clothes since his clothing was rather elaborate, but still simple.

He wore a long sleeved hooded cloak that had platinum colored, or some kind of gray, trim on the opening of the sleeves and cloak. The back of the cloak had outlined in aqua blue stitching, I know I'm puny, that outlined a forest with a creek running down the center. The cloak opened enough to show that he was wearing rather simple clothes. From I could tell he was wearing a black, no-sleeved V neck with platinum colored stitching running diagonally along the torso, forming a few X's on his person, and faded sapphire blue jeans with a black pull belt and platinum buckle. A platinum colored drape, just as long as Tifa's but shorter since he was at least half a foot shorter than the two of us, appeared to be sewn into the hem of his jeans. He had the cloak over his head to conceal his face for some reason, and his hands were hidden in his sleeves since they hung a little longer than his arms. I also glimpsed the hilt of two swords on his side. They were slanted to a point and had sapphire blue cloth that zig-zagged up one side of the hilt with a dangling chain on the bottom of the hilts seven black links shaped like wings with, you guessed it, platinum colored trimming on the sides and tips of the small feathers and were connected by a black wire.

"Hey there!" A short spiky brunette boy waved to us with a raven haired girl clinging to his shirt, probably his girlfriend. The poor thing must be scared of the storm. Hopefully our last four show up and we can get inside.

"Hey you two. You must be our other advisees. We're just waiting on the last four and then we'll head to the simulation room." I said in my most welcoming voice. I looked up and saw two groups already heading to their designated rooms.

"That's cool. So have we introduced ourselves yet?" The spiky brunette asked.

"Not yet Spikes. We want to wait till everyone's here so we can do it all at once." Tifa replied. She jumped in the air to get the attention of anyone who was straggling behind. Now four of the groups had moved on to their rooms. If we're last then we're last, no use whining about it.

I saw two more heading towards us both blonde. One male, the other female with misty violet eyes and had her curly blonde hair in a topknot ponytail. The boy looked a lot like the brunette, even his cerulean blue eyes. Why would he leave his brother to find us? Maybe they got separated in the crowd.

"Hello." The girl greeted in a cheery manner. She seems nice enough and looks about Kairi and Nam's age. Hopefully between the three girls we have here, they can mellow Kairi out a bit.

"Hi. We'll start introductions in a sec, we just need to wait for our last two members." Tifa replied then she looked around and it all sank in as the last three groups had already left.

I saw another male come to us he was Caucasian with shoulder length spiky brown hair and brown eyes. Like the cloaked figure, he too didn't wear any old clothes, instead he wore black. A black un-zipped over jacket, I saw a golden dragon wing on his back when he turned slightly. His jeans, shoes, and shirt all of which held gold stitching lining the sides. He seemed pretty distant, maybe he's shy or something. He had a long sword on his hip encased in a blue sheath with gold lining that moved and curved up it in a sort vine like pattern. The hilt of the blade was a darker blue, like the midnight sky, and had the same curved pattern as the sheath except it held a silver color instead of gold. The guard was in an angelic winged shaped design. In the center of the hilt and on the pommel were multicolored gems.

"It seems that you are the nine man group." Tifa replied with a chuckle. "Let's just hope the only number seven you get is on those cards. I hear this exam is much tougher than what we went through when we were freshmen."

"Well come on, we can do introductions on the way to the room follow me, we are assigned to the main gym near the northeast coast." I ushered them to follow while Tifa just tossed the sign to side. One of the brooms will get it later.

"So let's start with us, your lovely and beautiful dorm advisors." Tifa boasted while she walked backwards. "I'm Tifa Lockhart, age eighteen, and street fighter extraordinaire. I've yet to meet someone who take me hand-to-hand."

"I'm Aqua Kokoro, age seventeen, and a Keyblade apprentice to one of the Headmasters." That seemed to catch some glances. "I won't say much about it now, but just know that a Keyblade is a very power weapon that is not to be taken lightly."

"So who are our fine recruits?" Tifa asked as she bent over slightly and placed her fists on her hips.

Kairi was the first to respond. "I'm Kairi Kokoro, age fifteen, and I wouldn't mind going a few rounds with you Tifa." You're gonna regret that Kairi. Tifa's been known to make some the college level boys cry.

Tifa just replied with an amused smile. "Heh, you pass the exam and we'll spar as much as you like."

"And don't go easy on me because I'm Aqua's little sister."

"Don't worry, I plan to be much worse." Oh here we go.

"Um..." Nam piped up. "I'm Naminé Kokoro, Kairi's younger twin sister, and I like to draw."

"We've got an artist do we? I hope you do better that you sister. She can barely draw stick figures." Yeah, I can be pretty bad at-wait. What? She did just throw me under the bus in front of my sisters.

"Oh shut up Tifa. At least I do better with crafting AND I can cook!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what about our peppy blonde?" How does Cloud put up with her?

"I'm Terra Branford, age sixteen. I can do a little magic and I like chocobos." Definitely the reserved one of the group.

"I'll take you to the stables sometime. We could use some volunteers to help raise the chocobo there." Her face lit up when I mentioned the stables, I honestly thought she was going to squee for a moment. I can't wait to see how she reacts to our dorm Overseer. "You'll have to pass the exam first though."

"I'll definitely pass!" She exclaimed. I'll keep her love for chocobos in mind if her grades start to slip.

"And what about our clingy fraidy cat?" Tifa teased the little girlfriend.

"I'm Xion Hikari, age fourteen. I would like to be an actress-" _BOOM!_ Goes the thunder. She squeaked and tugged tighter to her boyfriend's shirt. "And I can't stand thunder."

"Don't worry Xion, we're getting close to the gym, it's sound proof when the simulation starts so you won't hear a thing." I got to hand it to Tifa. She can be nice sometimes, you know, when she's not being a sarcastic brawler.

"I'm sure your boyfriend will protect you from the thunder." I tried to reassure her. Though I wasn't expecting her next response.

"Boyfriend?" She looked at me like I had grown two heads or something.

"The brunette you're clinging to." I replied with a puzzled look on my face.

"You thought Sora was? OH no, no, no. He's my older brother." Older brother?

Kairi and Tifa started laughing at me. "Nice one sis!"

"Yeah Aqua! Ha, ha, ha. Way to make things awkward!"

"How was I supposed to know?!" I replied very strongly.

"You could have asked." Kairi replied still laughing at me.

"Will you two stop it already?!" They seemed to stop laughing though I could see they still were giggling. "Anyway!" I shot them one last glare before addressing the siblings. "You want to be an actress Xion?" She nodded her head. "I know a really good teacher on campus, I can recommend her for your classes if you'd like."

"Thank you Miss Kokoro." Man she is cuteness incarnate.

"Please, just call me Aqua."

"Okay Aqua."

"Since your sister already told us your name Sora, would still like to introduce yourself?" Tifa replied still snickering.

He flashed this really goofy grin before he replied, this must be our goof ball. It made us chuckle a bit, even the hooded guy and I could tell Kairi was trying not to snicker. Though the one with the long brunette hair was definitely not laughing. "Sure, I'm Sora Hikari, age fifteen. I would like to be a pilot, but the jury's still out on that."

"Hopefully you'll reach a verdict once you start taking your classes." Tifa replied. "Next?"

"I'm Roxas Gainsborough, age fifteen. I was asked to attend school by one of the headmasters and I want to be a professional photographer." So he's not Sora and Xion's brother. They look so alike though.

"Nice! You and Naminé should work together. Maybe you could model for each other."

"Tifa!" I exclaimed. I could see both Roxas and Nam's face turn red from the idea. "Don't say things like that!"

"What? It's not like they weren't already thinking-" _SMACK!_ That was my fist colliding with Tifa's head "OW!" She was crouching on the ground rubbing her head now.

"Anymore comments?" I asked still holding my fist up.

* * *

_Naminé's POV_

Aqua can pretty scary when she's annoyed. You could see her smiling, but the corner of her lips were straining and her eyebrow was twitching. Is it just me, or is there a vein sticking out of her forehead?

* * *

_Aqua's POV_

Tifa rose to her feet soon afterwards, still rubbing her head, and looked back to Roxas. "So how's your sister Roxas?"

"She's fine Tifa. She opened a floral kiosk on campus here and recommended I come to attend school after the headmasters scouted me." He scratched his left cheek with his index finger.

"She's right about that! If you need to learn anything you can find it here. I'm sure you'll find a good photography class Roxas." Tifa punched him in the shoulder to emphasize her point.

He rubbed his shoulder in response, trying to stop his muscle from spasming. "Thanks Tifa."

I looked at the silver haired boy to let him know it was his turn. "Next up is you."

"I'm Riku Fair, age sixteen. I 'm just hear because my brother thought it would give me some perspective." So the silverette is mister smooth huh?

"Your brother wouldn't happen to be Zack Fair would it?" He just nodded at my question. "Looks like we have another ladies man Tifa."

"Great. Just keep it in your pants kid. We don't need _another_ Zack at this Institute."

I saw Riku's face turn bright red. "W-what?! I'm nothing like that lunatic!"

"Oh, touchy, touchy." Kairi teased.

"Quit it!" He's quite defensive about this. Zack really has a rep, even back home.

"And what about mister anti-social here?" Tifa pointed to the long haired brunette.

"I'm not anti-social. I just prefer to keep to myself for the most part." His tone was very different from what I was expecting. Despite his disposition, he had a very kind tone to him. I get the feeling he's not the trusting type though, since there was a bit of an edge to his words. "My name is Shinryu Verus, age fifteen. I want to be a biologist and the Institute has the best program for it."

"Well you came to the right place for it. Our biology teachers are very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about that stuff." I replied with a smile in an attempt to get him to drop his guard a little.

"Good." Talk about simple and to the point.

"Anyway, it's time for our mysterious stranger." Tifa said as she slowed down until she was walking in front of the hooded boy. "How about taking off that hood and letting us see your mug, eh?"

"Huh?" He replied as he reached his hands up to his hooded head, which now I could tell he was the same skin tone as Sergeant Johnson just a little lighter, like cocoa, and his arms had tribal markings of a platinum hue. "I'm not wearing my-" Trust me, you are wearing it and I think he released it now. "..." He patted his head for a second before he finally said something. "Ooh." I can tell just by his tone that he's gonna be an eccentric one. "I _completely_ forgot I had that on." He had a very slight accent to him, I could barely hear at points. I think earthlings called it Caribbean? Anyway, the first thing I noticed was his dreadlocked hair. It was black as his cloak and had...Gray streaks? They weren't many in number, but it looked like someone who was just in the opening stages of the transition. His hair was corn rowed on the top and sides of his head, but fell into several individual strands of dreadlocks as they reached the curve of his skull. His hair fell to the mid of his shoulder blades and have seven strands dangling over his face and stopping at the bridge of his nose and upper cheeks on the outer sides, still spaced evenly so he could see. Oddly enough he had scars on his face, a long diagonal cut from the top left side of his head to the right side of his chin and two small horizontal gashes on his left cheek, he must have been in some fight to leave a scar like that. His eyebrows were arced at an angle with two shaved cuts going through either side of the peak and his teeth were like that of a wolf's, long and sharp. Finally he had a platinum necklace that fell to his collarbone, it was simple in its design only having three small rhombus links with an elongated version connecting the next set.

"Holy dreadlocks mon." Sora exclaimed. I guess he's never seen dreadlocks before.

"I get that a lot." He replied with a nonchalant chuckle.

He lifted his head so we could see his facial features and the first thing I noticed was his platinum iris. "Are you blind?" I instantly covered my mouth. That was very insensitive.

"Don't worry Aqua, I'm not offended easily and yes, I am blind. But thanks to my spiritual powers, I can see just fine and in a few different ways." He replied very calmly and kept a very welcoming smile on his face.

"What kind of powers?" Terra asked, her curiosity piqued. Most people with a magical background are always interested in learning new spells. A spell to cure blindness would be handy to learn.

"One thing at a time Miss Branford. I have yet to tell my name." He replied with a playful wag of his finger. "My name is Isaac Gospel, and I have a small problem. One of the staff here told me that I could find a solution if I came to the Institute"

"What kind of problem?" Riku asked.

"Hmmm, that's a little personal and we haven't passed the exam yet. If we do, maybe I'll tell ya more. Anyway, I'm here because I'm here and I like music, telling stories, and I only eat fruit. That's about it." Simple life style.

We eventually reached the main gym. A large arena that could be molded and reshaped through a Computer AI and Aurora Unit 313 thanks to the Galactic Federation and Encom. The building itself was the size of a football stadium, the football where you actually use your feet to kick the ball. We entered to see the arena pit with stadium seats around the ring on a high wall.

* * *

_Sora's POV_

"This place is enormous!" What? It is. Okay maybe not as big as a Blitz Ball arena, but still large enough to leave an impression.

"This will be your examination room." Aqua told us. "Here you will be given your test and we will watch from the seats. If you finish early enough, then you can consider yourselves SOLDIER students."

"So when do we begin?" The guy called Riku asked.

"_Momentarily recruit."_

"What was that?" Xion asked.

"_That would be me."_ A man suddenly materialized in front of us. He was wearing a black suit with red neon lights streaking about his shirt and pants. He had a cold and calculating expression. "_I am called Commander Sark."_

"_And I am called Tron." _Another man materialized in front of us, this one had blue neon instead of red and looked a little friendlier._ "And you must be team seven?"_ He questioned us with an almost childlike curiosity.

"You got that right Tron." Tifa replied to the neon sign.

"_Ah, Miss Lockhart. I didn't know you were given the responsibility of dorm advisor."_ The red one, Sark, stated.

"The Institute must have recognized my responsible nature."

"_Or they had no more juniors who would volunteer." _Tron teased our would-be advisor.

"Hey!"

"_Ha, ha, anyway it seems that we have the nine man group here."_

Sark made an amused humph before he said._ "That is unfortunate."_

"Why is that unfortunate?" Shinryu asked. I soon wished that he hadn't.

Sark closed his eyes and glowed for a moment. He opened his eyes shortly after and return to normal amounts of neon glow. _"It's simple Mister Verus. You have survival scenario seven."_

"What?" I replied and it seemed I was the only one who felt like we were in for a tough time, except maybe Roxas and Riku, they seemed a little on edge. Xion was still recovering from the thunder storm.

The red head, I think her name was Kairi, turned to me and said. "We have scenario seven you goof."

"I heard red, and why are you taking this so well? There is only nine of us and Mister Hell Jumper back there said that we would be screwed even if we had a full group."

"They always say that about exams. It's just the teacher's way of getting us to take it seriously." ...She had a point.

"He wasn't lying." We turned to Isaac, who had the most nonchalant look on his face. Well as calm as one can have when they have scars. I'm not sure I want to know how he got those.

"And how can you tell Isaac?" Riku asked him, a smug look on his face.

"Just another advantage of my sight. So when do we start?" He is really quick to change topic. Does he have a short attention span or something?

Tron glowed once again before addressing our robed dorm mate. _"Mister Gospel, I was wondering why you and Mister Verus were the only ones not in basic clothing. You two were exempt from the transmutation."_ What does that mean? Are we getting a uniform or something? _"The test will start when no one has any more questions. I will explain the circumstances and then you are on your own."_

"I don't have any questions." Shinryu said.

"Me neither." Riku followed.

"I'm good to go." There goes Terra and to spare you a bore, everybody said the same thing.

"_Very well, here is the scenario. You will be dropped into a zone. Maybe separated or grouped depending on the variables, and you must make your way to a downed ship and seal yourselves in it until help arrives, in this case, the end of the exam." _Tron explained.

"_You have two hours to complete the exam." _Sark added.

"_Good Luck and may the Goddess smile upon you." _They said in unison.

With that Tron disappeared and our dorm advisors leapt off into seats. "Good luck you guys!" Aqua yelled back to us.

"If you pass, we'll take you out to eat!" Tifa added.

We were then engulfed in light and suddenly my body felt all tingly. Like I was being dissolved in a vat of spring water. Next thing I knew I was in a small clearing in the middle of a forest I had never seen before and the sun had long since set below the horizon and the stars could be seen in the night sky. As well as a harvest moon.

I heard a rustling in the bushes next to me and I instantly dropped into my best boxer stance, let it be known now that I have no idea how to box, simply being in this stance gives off an intimidation factor...assuming that whatever I was fighting was indeed intimidated.

"Whoa, easy there Sora. I'm on your side." Skulking out of shadows came Riku, the silver haired pretty boy. I lowered my intimidating stance since I knew we were on the same team.

"Any idea where we are?" I asked. I tried to look around for the others, there didn't seem to be anyone else coming. I really hope Xion's okay.

"Not a clue. I guess the computer sent us to different areas. I found you by accident when I just picked a direction and went for it." He pointed at the direction he came from to reinforce how divided we were.

"Lucky me." I replied sarcastically. "I don't like the idea of moving through a dense forest at night alone."

"Especially considering we don't know what could be lurking inside it." Thanks Riku, I completely forgot we could be killed at a moment's notice.

I took a few steps to the left to see if I could find a path. "Yeah...for all we know there could be a Behemoth hiding behind these trees, WHOA!" I fell face first into the dirt.

"Looks like your big feet are the most dangerous thing here." Riku joked.

"I just tripped over some...thing..." I looked to my foot to see a severed hand clutching something. I would've lost my breakfast at the mere sight, but for some reason dried blood and tendons don't affect people the way you'd think. It was still disturbing, but I could handle it.

"What do we have here?" Riku knelt down and took whatever it was the hand was holding and pried it from its grasp. It was a grey disk no bigger than my palm and had four buttons on the corner of it. "Looks like a locater."

"A locater to what exactly?" I asked rising from my feet and brushing the dirt off my arm.

"Good question. Let's find out." He tapped a button on the side and the thing lit up with a map and a single arrow pointed northeast with the number ten next to it. "Looks like a map of the forest and whatever that arrow is pointed to is about ten kilometers from here."

"Maybe it's the ship we're looking for. I doubt that hand was placed there randomly with this map." I theorized.

He furrowed his brow as he thought over my idea. "That makes the most sense, but we show look for the others before we draw any conclusions."

"Okay, now we just have to figure out where to look." I looked around the area again while Riku paced to the other side of the small clearing we were in.

"They can't have been teleported far from us." I heard him say.

I saw a small path through some pushes to our left. It was next to a river that flowed in the direction of the arrow, we looked to be on the west side it. "I found a path. If we follow it we're bound to run into the others."

"Good idea. Everyone is gonna need to drink sooner or later."

"Well Riku, I know we already introduced ourselves, but the names Sora Hikari. Let's look after each other this year." I flashed my goofy grin and extended my hand.

He just smirked and with an amused _humph_. He took my hand and shook it. "Riku Fair, nice to meet you Sora."

* * *

_Kairi's POV_

Tron sure wasn't kidding when he said we could be separated during this exam. I found myself moving through a forest in the middle of the night with no one from the group to keep me company. Not a problem, I'm a big girl now. I can handle myself if things get rough. I had already been walking for a good ten minutes now.

_'I wonder how Nam is doing. She should be fine as long as that staff doesn't break. I'm more concerned about whether or not she was paired with someone. I'm sure Isaac, Shinryu, and Terra can handle themselves. Terra's magic aside, Isaac and Shinryu look like they've seen their fair share of fights.' _I tend to think to myself when I'm alone. It helps calm my nerves and allows me to think through a problem

_'Those others are the ones I'm more concerned about. That Xion girl had a pair of gunblades on her hips. I couldn't get a good look since she was clinging to that Sora guy the whole time. If she has those, she probably knows how to use them, but I'm still skeptical. Riku looks like he's smarter than the average person, he'll probably try and regroup with us before he does anything. Sora and Roxas? Roxas seems a little timid to survive on his own and Sora looks like the type to leap before he looks.'_

I know it's mean to analyze people I've only just met, but if I'm going to prove the Celestials are behind the colonization attacks, then I need to know who is going to help me and who is just going to hold me back.

_Snap!_

I whipped my head towards the direction of the noise. I didn't even notice I was being followed. "Whoever you are, you'd better come out now or I'm going to pummel you into oblivion." A little bit later a squirrel emerged from the bushes with an acorn in its hand. It gave a confused glance, tilting its head to the side before stuffing the acorn in its mouth and running off to the side. "It's just a squirrel." I lowered my guard and turned around only to meet with a twitching bag of patchwork and a random cleaver for a left foot. The blade resembled that of a scythe in actual design, but it was chip and rusted.

I jumped back and assumed my fighting stance only to have two more drop behind me. I couldn't see too well on account that it was very dark and the only light was the harvest moon overhead. The sack looked like it had the face of a twisted court jester, purple clown hat and all. The two behind me had their blades replacing their right arms. They all looked like they were held up by strings almost like they were puppets or something.

"And here I was thinking I would be fighting exotic wild life." They meandered stiffly towards me. I could hear the clunking of wood as they took each strained step.

I lounged towards the one in front of me since he was moving the slowest and punched him right in his stomach only to connect with...nothing.

"Wha?" I didn't have time to process the discovery before it turned and back flipped, bringing its bladed leg down on my head.

I back stepped the attack and went for the other two. One lazily began to twirl with its blade at me as I got within a meter of it. I jumped over it and did a flip kick to the back of its head, this time I felt something solid, _very_ solid, and I heard the sound of wood splintering. Whatever these things were, human was the farthest thing from it. The third jester twirled at me just as I landed, this time he got up to full speed and the sound of the blade cutting through the wind was enough to tell me they knew how to use those appendages, albeit clumsily.

I dodged between its peg legs and came face to face with the first puppet, its bladed leg poised to strike me again, but this time I had a plan. I quickly pivoted off my left hand, propelling my feet into the air for a swipe at is joint. I struck my target with ease as the sound of torn stitching echoed in my ears. When my legs struck the ground I immediately jolted off up and dove for the free falling blade. I gripped the lose stitching, finding that there was indeed wood underneath. _'These are puppets? That would explain the hollow spot in its stomach.'_ I thought as I soared towards a tree.

I struck the tree feet first and somersaulted off it, back flipping over the limping leader and bringing its leg down on its head. I sliced through the stitching and wood and watched as the leader fell in half. His insides were comprised of maggots and what could only be described as liquid saw dust and... Darkness? _'I'm fighting a demon puppet?'_

I looked up to find that the other two had circled around me and had me in a pincer maneuver and were meandering very slowly towards me. _'If they're trying to be intimidating, they're failing miserably.'_ They whirled up and began to twirl at me. I ducked down low and brought my newly acquired blade over my head to block the incoming blades. The two dolls collided with each other's blades and recoiled off of each other with a loud clang. I did my own version of their ballet routine and spun on one foot, putting all my strength into the move and cleaving them in half.

I lowered the blade into the ground and let it skid to a halt. "Well that was easy." I tossed the rusty blade to the side and continued through the forest. For a good ten minutes until I came to a river. It seemed to flow northeast and I appeared to be on the east side. From what I could tell it was a good fifteen meters wide.

I placed my hand on my hip in a sort of relaxed thinking posture. "Hmmm. Assuming we didn't get scattered over the course of a few dozen kilometers, we should eventually bump into each other if everyone finds this creek." I looked in the direction the creek was flowing. _'This creek seems to go on for a while. I wonder where it lets out.'_ I started walking down the creek. With hope that I will bump into someone. Mother always taught me to look for water if I ever get lost in the woods.

* * *

_Roxas' POV_

_'How do I end up in these situations? I come to school here at SOLDIER because my older sister is running a flower shop on campus. I get put in a group with a bunch of people who look like they grew up street brawling and now...'_ I look towards the petite blonde next me, her hair curled over her shoulder. _'I'm walking with the prettiest girl I've ever seen in the middle of a forest with Goddess knows what, prowling about.'_

"You should try to relax a little Gainsborough." I heard her call my name. "It's just a simulation, we aren't in any mortal danger." She has a very sweet voice. She seems to take after Aqua more than Kairi, but seems to be a little more reserved than Aqua.

"Thanks Kokoro, but I don't do too well in forests. I have bad memories from when I was younger." I repressed the memories trying to worm there way back into my mind. I really don't want to remember those three.

"Then don't think about that. Just think about the test and finding the others. We can't have been separated very far." I certainly hope not. I only trained in swordsmanship. That doesn't do me much good without a sword. "Any idea where we should start?"

"Um... In this situation we should try to find a body of water that we can drink from. Sooner or later we're bound to bump into the others."

"Then let's go Gainsborough." She told me with a bright smile.

"Okay, and please, call me Roxas."

"Then call me Naminé, Roxas."

* * *

_Terra's POV_

I was walking along a rocky coast by a creek with Sora's little sister, Xion. We had fallen into the simulation in the middle of a forest, and I mean literally fallen. I landed on my butt, that was very painful, and Xion landed stomach first on my lap, if she hadn't I probably would've been stabbed by one of her gunblades.

We had been walking for around twenty minutes with no sign of the others or any clear dangers. I used a simple illumination spell to give us a little light, even with the moonlight overhead there are still patches of darkness we should be wary of. I'm glad it's not thundering now since Xion has been on the lookout ever since we dropped in, she is very capable despite how she acted earlier.

"Hey Miss Branford?" I heard her call my name.

"Please, call me Terra." I replied with a smile.

"How hard do you think finding the ship is going to be?" I looked at her to see her hands placed behind her head.

I looked towards the sky while I thought aloud. "Depends on how much this simulation is based off of the Sergeant's military career and how hectic it was."

"Being in a group nicknamed the Hell Jumpers, I don't think it will be a walk in the park." That's an understatement, and we don't have time to search this whole forest if that bird's eye view we had is any indication. The forest area itself was wide and expansive, like an untamed continent, free of any influence by society. Though I did notice a faint flickering light to the northeast, judging from where the moon was in the sky.

I brought my attention back to the ground and examined our surroundings again. I felt like there was something lurking in the woods, something fearsome, but unnoticeable. "I'm not sure I want to know why they are called Hell Jumpers, but you're right about this being a difficult situation."

"It feels like we're being watched, even though there is nothing around to stare at us."

I'm surprised she noticed that. "You feel it too?"

She looked off into the distance "I had a lot of practice when Sora use to play Blitz Ball with me in the ocean. You'd be surprised how much being in deep waters throws your prospective off."

"I bet, but to answer your question, I think it will probably take us half of the testing to reach the ship. I noticed a flickering light to the northeast. It was faint, but it could be the ship."

"At least we have a clue. For a simulation that's supposed to be difficult, you'd think they would make the objective hard to locate."

I stopped dead in my tracks when she pointed that out. _'How did I not notice that?'_ I can't believe the thought hadn't occurred to me before. "We need to get moving, Xion." I quickly grabbed her wrist and took off running as fast as I could. "_Now!"_

"What's the rush Terra?" I heard the concern in her voice clear as day. I didn't look back since I was preoccupied with building up speed, but I could imagine she was struggling to keep up with me.

"We can't afford to be separated like this, that's what." I jump into the air and dragged Xion along with me as I started to fly.

"Whoa!" She somehow managed to climb up my back and wrapped her arms around my neck. "How are you doing this?"

"Magic." I replied quickly and refocused on my flight path.

"I didn't know magic could do this."

I just smirked at her comment. "Only if you learn the right spell. But we don't have time to be impressed by that. We have to find the others and get to the ship fast." I kept flying along the river bank. My thought? If I keep moving, I'll bump into someone eventually. Not the safest plan, but it's better than wandering around on foot.

"But why do we have to hurry? I know we're on a time limit, but we should have plenty of time to find everyone and form a plan."

I looked over my shoulder at her as best I could while keeping my eyes on the path. "Think about it Xion. We have two hours to find a crashed ship in the middle of the woods. We are told we could be separated at the start of the test and they drop two of the three dainty looking girls from the sky so at least _one_ of us could see where it was. And to top it off this is a simulation set up by a military soldier and supposed to be the toughest of them all." I saw that she connecting the dots and when her face lit up with concern and fear it all became apparent.

"Finding the objective isn't the test."

"It's getting there that's the real challenge." I suddenly heard a low thumping in the woods to our right, like the footsteps of a large animal and it was always followed by the scraping of rocks and dirt. I looked to the side to see the silhouette of a large hulking creature running on all fours in the forest. It was obscured by the trees so I couldn't see it well even if it were daylight. "Get your Gunblades ready Xion. We've got company on our right."

"On it." I felt her shift on my back the distinct ring of her blade as she withdrew it from her hip. "Can you keep steady for me?"

"I'll do my best." I replied. Luckily there seemed to be no obstacles before us.

* * *

_Xion's POV_

I aimed my Gunblade, flicking my wrist and pulling a notch on the side to shift the blade so it was adjacent to the hilt so it resembled an extremely long barreled revolver, I'm glad I modified my Gunblades to actually shoot bullets or we may have been at a real disadvantage. Terra was keeping on a straight and steady path like I asked. I could see the creature next to us, its silhouette anyway, and aimed my blade at its head. If this is like a simulation then a well-placed headshot should drop it instantly, like a first person shooter.

I felt the wind on my face and guessed the velocity at which we were moving forward. The creature was about fifty meters away from us so I had to be careful where I shot. If I hit its body, which looked like it could withstand a tungsten round, then I could piss it off and make it come after us. I aimed a little forward and pulled the trigger, both short barrels on my gunblade erupting in flame as the hammer struck the casing and discharged the bullet towards the creature.

The creature visibly twitched and slowed. "Yes! I got it Terra!" I exclaimed before I heard a booming roar from the creature. It veered towards us and broke through the foliage and into the pale moonlight. I really wish it had not.

"W-w-what is that?" I asked with fear in my voice, my gunblade still trained on the hulking behemoth.

Terra shifted around so she could see behind us and looked at the creature. Its low hanging head and bulging muscles on its body, making it stand at twice our height on four legs with a large spiked fin along its spine and two, drapes? Yes there were two white drape like mantels on its back with black trim on either side of the fin that flapped wildly as it charged behind us. Its teeth were bared and very sharp with its blood red eyes leering at us. I noticed that one eye was bleeding, probably from my bullet earlier. The scary part is that it was glowing and looked to be slowly regenerating.

"A King Behemoth?!" Terra exclaimed. "That's overkill, even for a military entrance exam!" She flipped over with me closer to the ground as she put her hand forward and it began to glow. _"Flare!"_ A big orb of pulsing orange hot light formed away from her hand and flew towards the behemoth.

I looked behind us and notice that we were approaching a waterfall. "Terra!" I exclaimed. She looked back and saw the approaching waterfall. Her eyes widened in shock before she looked back at the ball of fire she had just created before it hit the Behemoth head on and caused a massive explosion. The shockwave hit us hard and knocked us out of the air.

We stumbled and rolled along the rocky ground as she continued toward the cliff by the waterfall. I managed to stop just before falling off, but Terra rolled over the cliff and grabbed onto the side. I saw her hands slipping from the moist rock. I quickly scurried to her and grabbed one of her hands before she fell over the side, the drop was easily two hundred meters high and the waterfall pooled into a pond close to fifty meters wide.

"I got you Terra." I grunted. I felt a little pain in my side from the landing. I think a rock or something may have jabbed me in the side.

"Thank you Xion." I began to pull her up when I felt the ground rumble to our dismay. I craned my neck slowly in the hopes that I my fears were unfounded when I came face to face with the Behemoth its razor teeth a mere inch from my face. Half its body was exposed muscle and skeleton. Its blood pouring from its wounds and flailing veins that spewed blood out like a hose, coating my in it and staining my and Terra's cloths red.

I felt Terra shift below me as she stared at the Behemoth. I'm sure she was thinking we were dead. Even I thought that too. _"Hurragh!"_ The behemoth blared in my face. Pushing its opened mouth forward and engulfing my head. I thought it was going to bite my head off and swallow it whole, its mouth was so large.

To my relief it pulled back. To my everlasting nightmares it rose slowly on its hind legs and pulled out a hilt from its back. There was a spinning buzz saw with an open center attached to the hilt. Its skin beginning to regenerate like its eye.

"Shoot it in the eye Xion!" I heard Terra yell at me. "Shoot it before it kills us!" I raised my Gunblade quickly and pulled the trigger repeatedly. The first few shots bouncing off the thick armored hide of the Behemoth. "Focus Xion. You can do it if you focus." I tried to calm myself, but the Behemoth brought its buzz saw down on us and I closed my eyes anticipating the inevitable.

That was when something happened. I opened my eyes and saw the King Behemoth moving in what appeared to be slow motion. I looked to Terra and saw her mouth opened like she was yelling at me, but she was also moving in slow motion. It wasn't just the Behemoth and Terra, but the water and the trees. The whole world was moving in slow motion and I had no idea why.

I didn't dwell on it too long as I was brought back to reality with the slow distorted sound of the Behemoth's buzz saw coming towards us. I leveled my blade on the Behemoth's eyes and fired, both barrels firing at the eyes and both bullets hitting their mark.

The world went back to normal time and the Behemoth wailed in pain as it stepped back in shock, swinging the buzz saw wildly and striking the ground at my feet. I pulled my legs up as it struck the ground and scattered rocks and debris into the air. It then stepped forward and brought its large clawed foot down on my leg. I winced in pain and went over the ledge with Terra in tow.

* * *

**I would like to give a special thanks to the Unknowing Herald for letting me use his character Shinryu Verus for this particular story. I recommend him to anyone that hasn't read his stuff, and as always please leave a review.**


	4. Chapter III: Test Time

Tales of Guardians

Chapter III: Test Time

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: June 21, 2548

Time: 15:33 Galactic Standard Time, 06:50 Resident Time

Star Cluster: HUB

Planet: Resident

Location: Simulation Seven

* * *

_Terra's POV_

As we fell towards the base of the waterfall I grabbed hold of Xion, pulling her towards me so I could try and maneuver us towards the pond. I raised my hand towards the pond and cast bubble. The clear orb went forward and popped on the water's surface right before we hit. If it hadn't we would have had some cracked bones from hitting the surface head on.

We resurfaced and I saw that Xion was unconscious. "Xion?! Xion wake up!" It didn't work. I figured as much, but it was worth a try. We floated down the river quickly, the rapids were very strong. I looked for a place we could get out quickly and safely. "I'll get you somewhere safe Xion. Just hold on a little longer."

I started swimming towards the west shore, since it was closest and I didn't have to use too much strength, when I heard someone call to us. "HEY! BRANFORD, HIKARI! OVER HERE!" I looked toward the source of the voice on the shore I was heading to when I saw our spiky blonde teammate Roxas. He was with Naminé and I'm glad he was because Naminé had a pole we could grab on to.

_Roxas' POV_

Naminé reached her pole out into the water for Branford to take hold of. She had Hikaris little sister in her arm and she was unconscious. I kneeled next to the water and took hold of Hikari and dragged her onto the shore. I saw that her jeans were ripped and she was bleeding? Whatever did this was big and well-armed. That's a comforting notion.

Naminé had pulled Branford out of the water and was busy trying to help dry her off by ringing some of the water out of her hair while Branford wrung her shirt out.

"What happened to you guys?" I asked. "Hikari is bleeding from her leg."

Terra shot up and hurried over to Hikari. Looks like Terra didn't get hit as hard as Hikari did, just a trickle of blood down her forehead. "We ran into a King Behemoth and got tossed off of a waterfall." She said as kneeled next to Xion and held her hands out. _"Cura."_ She chanted the healing spell. It was a second stage version of the spell and it proved to be enough since it closed the wound, even the cut on her forehead. "She should be fine. She just needs to rest for a while." She placed her finger under Hikari's nose. "Thank the Goddess. She's still breathing."

"That's good." Naminé said as she came next to us. "We should start a fire and get your cloths dried quickly so you don't get hypothermia."

"I'll get the wood. I saw some branches lying on the ground behind those bushes." I stood and went to get the wood.

"Good idea. It will make a good beacon for the others if they are following the river like we did." I heard Naminé say.

"It could also alert other monsters so we should be on our guard." Terra replied.

* * *

_Shin's POV_

'_Okay, so let's recap for a moment Shin. We were dropped into a simulation and we got separated. That was thirty-five minutes ago.' _I got dropped in the middle of the forest and have been walking eastward ever since. Hopefully I can link up with the others. I don't like the prospect of having to move through the forest by myself with these creatures prowling around. First it was the puppets and then I had to avoid a hunting group of six Behemoths, one of them a King Behemoth and it looked like it was wounded. If I had to guess it would have to be that Hikari girl since she was the only one I noticed with a ranged weapon.

The Kokoro sisters should be fine by themselves and that Gospel guy looks more than capable of defending himself. Despite that laid back attitude of his, he carries himself like he knows he can handle anything. Though confidence doesn't equal victory, it just makes one ignorant to their own mortality.

I suddenly heard a shifting of the leaves behind me and quickly gripped my _Claíomh Solais_ and whipped around to face the source of the sound to see…nothing. Again. Something is definitely following me, sizing up its prey before it strikes. It's definitely not one of those puppets, they just came at me like, well, puppets on a string. Whatever this was is obviously intelligent.

I continued towards the east. My hand still on my Claíomh Solais just in case. I kept moving and looked down at my left hand to see the numbers imprinted on them. A hellish red glow outlining curvy black numbers that slowly ticked away on my palm. The current time read **_0__1:32:45 _**and ticking away slowly. _'We still have time to find each other and come up with a plan._' I heard the sound of a river nearby, thank goodness. At least I can get a drink and rehydrate myself.

The bushes started to shake again, this time much closer. I whirled around, drawing my hilt and swinging it at the sound, the silver light that formed the blade of my weapon glowed brightly in the moonlit night. I saw a black veil that vanished into the tree tops. I replaced the blade back into its sheath, my hand still on the hilt and ready to strike again. _'That should let it know what I can do. Just need to wait for a moment.'_ The black shade dropped to the ground again and showed me its purple eyes and opened mouth that radiated the same violet colored light. It was cloaked in a tattered black hood with skin as gray as stone. In his hands was a scythe, the kind you would traditionally see the Grim Reaper holding in paintings and religious depictions.

I bent my knees and readied for it to make its move. It meandered towards me, dragging its chipped scythe along the ground. I tightened my grip in anticipation. _'This thing is slow.'_ It took long deliberate steps toward me. I thought it would never reach me until it explode in a puff of black mist. _'Huh?'_ I heard something behind me and instantly whipped around, brining my Solais up towards whatever it was that was sneaking up on me.

I came face to face with not one, not two, but three smaller Reapers with the same pale skin, they just lacked the purple lights. My sword collided with the wooden pole of the scythe in front of me. I cleaved through the pole and the Reaper holding it with ease, both of them falling in half. The Reaper turned to ash upon its death, all remnants vanishing from sight. I turned my attention to the next two Reapers and prepared to strike them. The bigger Reaper was hanging back watching the scene before him. Not an ideal situation since it let him see what I could do before it even fought me.

I swung at another Reaper skulking towards me and took its head off in one swing. The remaining Reaper had leapt into the air and was bringing its scythe down on my head. I swung my blade and met its scythe head on, grinding our blades together and sending it flying back away from me.

"_Huaagh!"_ I heard the larger Reaper howl behind me and more Reapers materialized out of gray smoke. I was quickly surrounded by eight of the Reapers. The larger one leering at me. I held my sword out in front of me, the silver glow highlighting my face, and readied myself for one helluva fight.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

"_Why should I worry?" _The Lizards came leaping at me through the forest with their axes trying to cut my head off, but I countered with a kick to their chin and flipping another over my shoulder.

"_Why Should I care~?"_ There were about seven left and I had yet to draw my _Star Killer_.

"_I may not have a dime."_ Another Lizard came barreling at me and attempted a back hand with its buckler.

"_But I've got street savoire Faire!" _I drew one of my blades, black as night, slanted to a point like the hilt, and split down the middle. I brought it up on the Lizard's arm, severing it from its body.

"_Why should I worry?" _I quickly spun on my heel and tripped the de-limbed Lizard and brought my sword up in a reverse grip, severing its head from its body.

"_Why should I care~?"_ I looked to the remaining six Lizards and dropped into my fighting stance with my split blade held in a reverse grip behind me. Two of the Lizards dove into the ground and darted towards me.

"_It's just a bebopulation."_ I drew my second split blade with my left hand and stabbed it into the ground, held in a reverse grip like the previous blade. I saw blood seep up through the dirt and no sign of movement.

"_I got street savoire faire."_ The other subterranean Lizard man leapt through the dirt towards me using the side of its shield as a weapon to try and cut me. I back flipped and avoided the uppercut, kicking the Lizard in the face as I did a handstand and landed on my feet, ready for the next wave.

"I think that's enough singing for now." I said to the Lizards, though I don't think they can understand me. "How about we end this?" I lunged towards the remaining five Lizards. Using my speed to close the twenty meter distance instantly and decapitate another Lizard on my right. I used the blunt end of my left blade to trip the Lizard off its feet before impaling it with my right blade.

I prepared to lunge towards the remaining three Lizards when I was suddenly assailed by a flurry of ice from behind me. I looked back to see three more Lizards, these Lizards were covered in ice. Ice body armor, ice helmet, and ice covering their forearms and hands.

"…How are you not dead?" I asked the Lizards only to have one fire a hail of ice at my head. I dodged it easily, not too many creatures can land an attack on me unless they can match my speed and reflexes. I turned around to find a giant block of ice in front of me that suddenly burst to reveal one of the Lizards. "Oh boy…"

It lashed out at me just as quickly as the ice shattered. I dodged back and avoided the blow, but I was blindsided by one of the remaining three Lizards' shields. I was disoriented for a moment and it was long enough to get hit by a flurry of Ice shards that pinned me to a tree. My blades separated from me and my cloak full of holes.

"This is not going to end well, is it?" I jokingly asked. The Lizards moved towards me slowly, taking in their victory very prematurely. Remember when I said my blades were separated from me? I lied. The winged chain on the bottom of the hilts aren't just for show. The chains were wrapped around my hands and forearms. I'm glad they are black like the blades or the Lizards would've noticed.

I flicked my wrist and yanked the split blades towards me. They tilted slowly and cleaved two of the regular Lizards in half and de-limbed one of the Ice Lizards' right arm. When the blades were in my hands I spun them like propeller blades and destroyed the icicles holding me up.

"The one thing about my Star Killer. They are full of surprises." I taunted before I was blindsided by bolts of yellow electricity. It bounded and leaped through the forest wildly, before it struck the side of a tree and materialized into yet another Lizard, just as large as the ice variant and much more armored. I could barely make out the red of its muscle structure under its neck and joints where the thick, pointy, copper colored armor did not protect.

It leered and hissed at me. "Hey! Your friends started it!" I pointed to the de-limbed Ice Lizard. "If they had left me alone, they wouldn't be dead or missing an arm." As if to spite me, the Ice Lizard suddenly regrew its missing arm in a burst of ice. "…Now that's just not fair." They began to move closer towards me and frankly I'm not liking my odds right now. I could handle the one remaining axe wielding Lizard. The Lightning Lizard shouldn't be too much trouble. Those Ice Lizards are going to prove to be very dangerous if they can regenerate. I'm gonna need to find someone and fast.

I blinked and felt my pupils form to a slit, my iris darkening. My powers surging through me as my markings began to glow, the electricity flowing through my body as black lightning began to ark wildly, the energy repairing the holes in my cloak. My _Aura Gaze_ now active, I peered through the forest and took note of the life within. Everything did look the same due to it being a simulation and all. The trees, grass, rocks, and water held a fuzzy blue aura with various strands of code running along their surface, obscuring my sight somewhat. The things trying to kill us held a red aura, how simple, and lines of coding for all the various ways they act and react and how their bodies tear and bleed.

I looked around slowly in an attempt to get a glance, even if it was out the corner of my eye, of one of my squad mates. To my great delight I found someone, a male from the looks of it. His aura glowed with a silver light, like the waters cascading from the fountain temple. I didn't bother trying to gauge what his disposition was sense I was more concerned with the fact that I had to get past the Lizards to link up with him. From what I could tell, he had something about him that seemed…off? Like he wasn't one with his weapon, or at peace with himself, the faint golden flicker in his heart raging.

'_**What's the matter Moses? Can't handle a few reptiles.'**_ The twin toned voice in my head taunted me.

'_I'm kind of preoccupied with passing a test, rather than showing off, old man.'_ I jokingly replied.

'_**Smart kid. You'll do just fine so long as you keep that cool head. Though I do question trusting that boy. I sensed an odd power within him when you two were together.'**_

'_Doesn't matter. I just need to reach him.'_ I mentally argued. I wonder if anyone else has to worry about dealing with their alter egos.

'_**Pray that doesn't come back to bite you Moses.'**_

'_Noted.'_

The Lizards twitched their heads, the lone axe Lizard was jumping from side to side in preparation for a fight. I hunched forward, putting my left blade away and preparing to dart towards him. _'I hope this works.'_ I turned off my _Aura Gaze_ and went back to my _Mortal Sight_ to see the environment around me clearly and without blur or code.

I charged my body full of black lightning and charged my still drawn Star Killer blade and readied myself to move. _'Here goes nothing.'_

* * *

_Shin's POV_

I had already killed five of the eight Reapers only to have three of them replaced with tall purple skinned Reapers that were covered in white cloth and strips hanging off their arms, head, and legs. To make matters worse, they can actively teleport like the lead Reaper.

Another purple Reaper teleported and appeared in front of me. It brought its scythe down diagonally at my head, I brought my Solais up and parried it. I followed up with a stab, but the thing teleported away from me and I stabbed one of the remaining black cloaked Reapers in the chest where its heart would be. It dissolved into ash and I was left in the center of the horde of Reapers. The lead Reaper was standing tall with its scythe placed next to him. The three purple Reapers were on either side of him with one in the middle and the two smaller Reapers flanking me.

'_Eight dead Reapers and four of them can teleport. Even if I can kill the other two weaker ones, I still have to deal with the other four.'_ I eyed the leader wearily. _'Then there is the big one.'_

One of the purple Reapers disappeared. _'Here we go again.'_ I prepared Solais for another parry when the two Reapers behind moved in as well. _'Damn!'_ I whirled around to try and deal with the two smaller ones first. Unfortunately a shadow covered me and I instantly regretted that decision. I brought my golden Solais up and blocked the scythe that was coming down on my head. The move left me open to the ones in front of me. _'This is gonna hurt.'_

"Verus! DUCK!" I didn't bother questioning the voice. I just dropped to the ground and the next thing I knew I heard a loud crackling noise and felt ash fall on my head. I looked up to see a very fast moving figure in a black cloak. I jumped to my feet and swung my blade at it, thinking it was another Reaper when I was parried by a…black split blade sword? "Now is that anyway to treat the guy that just saved your life." Standing in front of me, holding his blade in a reverse grip was the African Islander from the orientation.

"Gospel? What are you-?" "Whoops, no time to explain." He quickly grabbed my head and moved me out of the way. I heard a loud clang followed by ash being thrown to the side. I looked up and saw that he had killed one of the purple Reapers with ease.

"Sorry about that. Your friend was getting a little antsy." He said nonchalantly. "Also look behind you and block." I did as I was told and blocked a massive chunk of ice being thrown my way.

I saw four Lizards come skulking out of the forest where Gospel had come from, three covered in ice and one covered in arcing yellow electricity. "You brought some friends as well." We stood back to back, he drew his second split blade and placed it in a reverse grip as well. His left hand was out in front of him, the slant at the tip of the blade was pointed diagonally at the ground while his right hand was positioned behind him with the blade pointed towards the sky.

"The more the merrier." He replied simply. "I thought two heads could think of a way to deal with these guys rather than one."

"I can't tell much, I may be able to handle the Ice Lizards." From the looks of them they are entirely made of ice which should make them susceptible to fire. I'm not very good at casting spells, but I can use a certain trick to beat them. I just hope I don't lose control again.

"The Ice Lizards regenerate. Unless you plan on setting them on fire, you're gonna have a tough time dealing with them." He jokingly advised.

"That's good to know." I replied with a smirk.

I heard him chuckle in amusement. "And don't worry about sparky. I can handle him no problem once you handle the ice ones."

I turned over my shoulder and asked him. "Should I ask why you haven't dealt with him yet?"

"I had to kill about twelve smaller ones with axes and shields. Not to mention the ice ones and Sparky can teleport. Sparky also likes to hide behind his icy subordinates." That explains the bisected Lizard sprawled over the bushes.

"You think you can handle the Reapers? They can teleport like the Lizards." I replied. The Lizards and remaining Reapers encircling us.

"They move slower than the Lizards and they only teleport if they can see your movement. With the exception of sparky over there, the Lizards turn into giant slabs of ice, still making them vulnerable, but they coordinate their attacks."

"Well if you're sure you can handle the Reapers, go for it. Don't blame me if you get hurt." I charged towards the Lizards and brought my blade down low and whispered my enchantment. _"Spell Blade. Fire Blade."_ I sliced at one of the Lizards, melting its chest armor. My blade now a raging red and orange flame, slightly cooler than most flames, but still hot enough to do some damage. Which is all I need now. I don't want to lose control right now.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

"…Friendly guy." _'That Verus kid sure knows how to encourage a guy.'_

'_**Make this quick since he will probably get his ass handed to him.'**_ Talk about a blunt personality.

I turned to face the three remaining Reapers as Verus called them. I used my _Aura Gaze_ again to see the coding of the enemies. The algorithms showed that the purple Reapers will teleport within point three seconds of an incoming attack if it can be seen and takes fifteen seconds to charge again for the next teleport. The big guy is a little more unpredictable. His algorithms are all over the place and the blur from the coding is making it hard to fight properly.

I switched back to my _Mortal Sight_, feeling confident in my ability to predict their patterns. "Here goes nothing." I breathed out as I charged forward, throwing the sword in my right hand at the closest of the two purple Reapers. It teleported away and dodged my attack leaving my blade to imbed itself in the tree behind it.

The Reaper teleported in front of me with its scythe already coming down on my head. I smirked in amusement and brought my remaining blade up across its torso faster than anyone could see, leaving a black after trail in its wake. The Reaper wailed in pain briefly before turning to ash and vanishing.

The remaining purple Reaper teleported behind and began to swing its scythe as well, but I yanked my right hand, the winged chain wrapped tightly around it and pulled my blade towards me. I ducked under the scythe blow and let my black blade pierce its unsuspecting heart and it turned to ash.

"Are people ever not going to fall for that?" I looked to Verus to see him handling himself quite well with that flaming sword of light. He had managed to de-limb one of the Ice Lizards, the wound burning closed in the process. From the looks of things, it needs an open wound to properly regenerate as it simply leered angrily at Verus. The other two were shooting ice shards at him and he simply blocked the shots with his blade.

I moved to help him when a large shadow over took me. I brought my blades up and blocked a downward strike at my head. "I was wondering when you would get involved." I replied looking at the towering Reaper behind me. Its purple light show outlining my scars.

I pushed him away from me and readied for a fight when a bolt of yellow electricity arced past me and Sparky appeared in a flash next to the Grim Reaper. This could prove very difficult.

* * *

_Riku's POV_

Okay, someone mind telling how I ended up in this situation? For reference I am running northeast along the river bank with Sora and we are being chased by a Behemoth. For those of you that don't know, a Behemoth is a large, green, hulking, beast with very sharp teeth and a vicious snarl.

"If we don't survive this Sora. I blame you." I told the brunette who was running next to me.

"How was I supposed to know a Behemoth is territorial?! I've never seen one before in my life."

"The giant teeth didn't tip you off? Or the common sense that you check for tracks before you whizz on a tree?" I replied with a _'matter fact'_ scowl.

"And you didn't think to warn me?!" He shot back with an annoyed look.

"I didn't think I would need too!"

"Just shut up and run."

We continued running along the river bank until we heard another roar come from our left and a red blur run up next to us.

"I see you two are doing fine." It was the Kokoro girl, the red head one. "Mind if I join you?"

"Sure, we could use the company." Sora jokingly replied.

"Good, I also brought a friend with me. I hope you don't mind."

"It can't be worse than a Behemoth." _"Hurragh!"_

"How about a King Behemoth?" She replied with a sorry to disappoint you look.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" I looked behind us to see a black and white Behemoth running alongside the green one. It looked like it was already injured as it was still regenerating some of the tissue on the left side of its body.

"I'm assuming a King Behemoth is bad." Sora chimed in. We simply nodded in response. "Oh. No worries then." The sarcasm evident in his voice.

"Well, while we're running side by side might as well reintroduce ourselves. I'm Kairi Kokoro, but call me Kairi."

"Sora Hikari. Just call me Sora."

"Riku Fair. I'm nothing like my brother so just call me Riku."

"Nice to meet you two." She replied and we kept running down the river bank.

* * *

_Shin's POV_

'_These things are tougher than they look and much faster than the Reapers.'_ I had been fighting the Lizards that Gospel brought with him for the last five minutes. I had managed to cut the arm off of one Ice Lizard, but now I had to figure a way to kill it and avoid the flurry of ice shards the other two were firing at me. I noticed that Gospel had already dealt with the Purple Reapers and was now fending off the lead Reaper and the Lightning Lizard. How he could kill the Purple Reapers with that much ease is impressive, but he seems to have met his match with the two leaders. The Reaper kept him at a distance with its scythe, using the reach to its advantage. Whenever he would attempt to close the gap, the Lightning Lizard would warp in between them and attack Gospel. The electricity coming off the Lizard seemed to have no effect on Gospel, something to look into later.

Right now. _Clang!_ I have to deal with a one armed Lizard. My Fire Blade was melting through its Ice covered arm and thanks to the intensity of the heat from Solais, its wounds were sealed up, preventing the regeneration factor that Gospel warned me about.

I ducked under another barrage of ice shots that came whizzing by me and then another. The one armed Lizard then leapt at me in an attempt to cut me again. _'That may work to my advantage.'_ I backed myself up a little further positioning myself between the two Lizards that were trying to shoot at me and waited for the one armed Lizard to position itself for another attack. _'I hope this works.'_ I saw the two Lizards flanking me raise their arms and fired a hail storm of ice at me, thankfully they didn't notice what I was planning.

I ducked instantly and the ice shots flew through the air and struck the Lizards themselves. The one to my right was struck in the head multiple times and died instantly, the other was impaled by two shards, but could still move, albeit somewhat hindered. The lone Lizard leapt at me like I was hoping he would and I gripped my Solais hilt tighter, increasing the size of the blade to the length of a broadsword. I shot forward and side stepped the swipe at my head and stabbed my blade through its cold armored chest, burning a hole towards its insides.

A puddle of water began to collect on the ground and vapor steamed off the heat of the blade. _"Erupt!" _I shouted and the blade blazed inside the Lizard, flames spewing out of its mouth and making its icy helmet glow with an orange hue before fire burst forth, the hole where its arm used to be spewed flame forth as well. Soon enough the whole of the beast's body was engulfed in a raging inferno and it toppled over, dead.

I looked towards the impaled Lizard and walked over to it cautiously. It squirmed on the ground in pain from the ice shards in its body. I knelt down and jammed my blade through its heart. "Requiescat in pace." I whispered as its body tensed and fell limp.

I withdrew my beam sword, it had returned to its base silver glow, and looked towards Gospel who was still fending off the leaders of our respective groups. I noticed that the chains on the hilts of his swords could extend and retract whenever he needed to, but they seemed to add links as there would only be seven links to start and then extend into upwards of thirty, each spaced out in ten centimeter increments. This allowed him to cover a wide area when he spun around or swung his arms in an attempt to keep the leaders at a distance.

I ran at the Reaper, its back to me and stabbed at it in hopes of catching it by surprise. When the tip of my golden blade touched its cloak, it disappeared in a cloud of black mist. I turned and felt mine and Gospel's backs collide.

"You take care of the Lizards?" He asked, I could tell he was getting exhausted. Frankly, I was too.

"Just a moment ago. I noticed you dealt with the Reapers already." I replied holding my sword in front of me. The lead Reaper materialized in front of me. The Lightning Lizard trained on Gospel.

"The moment you took off. I'm just having a problem dealing with these two."

I looked at the two leaders. Gospel did manage to land a few attacks on them. The lead Reaper had various cuts on its chest and legs and the Lizard's armor was compromised, some electricity leaking through the opening.

"I can think of a plan if you haven't already." I replied.

"I'm just gonna wing it. I just need you to play decoy for a moment." He replied, his body suddenly arcing in black lightning.

'_That explains why the Lizard wasn't giving him much trouble.'_ "What do you have in mind?"

"Just follow my lead." He replied and I heard a loud crash of thunder after seeing his blade disappear from my peripheral vision. It was accompanied by the wail of the Lizard and the splintering of wood. "Now!" He spun around and bolted for the lead Reaper with lightning speed and swung at it.

The Reaper disappeared and he spun around again. "Stab behind you now!" I did as he said and stabbed as the lead Reaper materialized behind me. It wailed in pain upon feeling the glowing blade inside of it. Isaac leapt over me and jabbed both of his split blades through the Reapers torso. "Can you enchant that blade with lightning?"

I complied and chanted. _"Spell Blade. Thunder Blade!"_ My silver blade arcing with silver lightning. I saw the Reaper glow with a mix of black and gold lightning, Gospel must have added his power to the mix. The Reaper coursed with our combined abilities to the point that its skeletal frame was visible and flashing. The Reaper continued to spasm from the shocks and whipped its body wildly until. _Crack!_ I heard its neck snap and its body go limp until it vanished into ash.

We stood there for a moment, our powers fading, the sparks disappearing form our respective weapons and bodies. "That's one down." Gospel was suddenly struck by a red bolt of electricity and staggered forward unfazed. "And one to go. You take a breather Verus. I can handle this one."

I tried to argue but before I could his body arced with the black electricity. He raised his hands and fired a wild string of black bolts at the Lizard. The Lizard fired off a bolt of red lightning in response, I guess it's down to its last legs if the color has changed. The Lizard didn't last long as Gospel's bolts over powered and struck the Lizard, overloading it and causing it to explode.

Gospel fell to a knee, exhausted. "Let's hope that's the last of them for now." He panted. "You alright Verus?"

I replaced my hilt back into its sheath, the prongs keeping it still. "Just a little tired."

"I know that feeling." He looked at his left hand momentarily. "One hour and twenty five minutes left." He stated.

I looked at my hand as well and sure enough it read **_0__1:25:19_**. "We need to find the others and fast if we are going to pass this exam."

"As much as I would like to take a break." He rose to his feet and moved towards the sound of water I heard earlier. "We should get moving." We passed through the bushes and ended up on the east side of a fifty meter wide river. "Thank Mother Wolf." _'Mother Wolf?'_ He knelt down and drank from the river, I did as well since I was thirsty myself. "I needed a good drink."

"You have any ideas on where we should start looking?" The ground started to rumble suddenly and we both looked in the direction of the shaking.

"Just one." He said as he rose to his feet to see three of our team mates, Kokoro, Fair, and Hikari, running from two Behemoths, one of which was a King Behemoth, and heading straight for us. "You up for a jog?" He asked sarcastically.

"Like we have a choice." We took off running in the opposite direction. Our team mates catching up to us.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

First a burly brawl, then a chase sequence. Talk about a physical examination. The five of us were running for our lives from two hulking beast, one of which looked like it had been put through a shredder. Verus and Fair were on either side of me and Kokoro was on Hikari's left.

"I'm guessing these things are part of the exam?" I replied sarcastically.

"Looks that way." Fair replied. "Sora here needed to use the bathroom and went a tree in the middle of their territory."

"Riku didn't tell me to check for tracks first." Sora responded.

"To be fair, I wasn't expecting monsters in a _get to the goal_ scenario." Kairi added. "I bumped into the King Behemoth a little while after fighting some demon puppets."

"He still should've checked first, Kairi." Riku rebuked.

"Oh calm down Riku. Right now we need to figure out a plan and find the others." Sora replied.

"You two have any ideas?" Kairi asked us.

"We just got done fighting off a squad of Grim Reapers and Lizard Men. I have no idea how to handle one of these things." I replied.

"Not to mention we're too tired to handle a regular Behemoth, let alone a King Behemoth." Verus replied, he looked to the opposite side of the river. "If we could get to the other side of the river then we should be fine."

I looked towards the other side of the rushing river, the rapids are not something anyone should attempt to traverse without a raft. "I think I can make that jump if I can get up to my max speed and build my energy up." I replied.

"I can make it too if I can use Aero." Kairi replied.

"Where does that leave us?" I heard Fair reply. "I can't use magic without Materia to aid me and I don't think Verus and Sora can use magic affectively either.

"Nope." Sora replied simply.

"I too tired to use another Spell Blade."

"Hmmm… Kairi, you think you can make it if you carry Sora?" She looked at me confused for a second, but I think she understood what I was getting at.

"Yes. If use Aero I should be able to maintain a high speed and make the jump with Sora on my back."

"Good. Riku, Verus…" I grabbed their wrists and they looked at me skeptically. "You better hold on." I took off at Mach one down the river bank.

"_Aero!"_ I heard Kairi shout before I heard. "WHOA!" From Sora soon after. We were moving further away from the Behemoths and soon I saw a light further up the river bank on the west coast. There were four shadows around it, probably a camp fire.

"Can you slow down?!" I heard Verus Shout.

"What's the matter? You don't like running." I replied as I veered over to the left a bit to get some distance to jump.

"Running I can handle. What you're doing is suicide!" Verus shot back, visibly shaken from the speed.

"It won't be for long. It looks like the rest of our squad is up ahead." I replied.

"Hopefully everyone is alright." I heard Sora reply.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"No!" I heard Verus yell.

"On three." Kairi said.

"One… Two… Three!" I charge my Spirit power into my feet, the platinum flashes of lightning engulfing my legs, and jumped high into the air, sailing over the raging rapids.

"WHOA!" I heard Verus, Sora, and Riku exclaim as we cleared the river. The others looked back up at us upon hearing them.

* * *

_Naminé's POV_

"WHOA!" We heard the sound, we looked up and saw them, and then they crashed into the ground.

Kairi and Gospel had landed feet first on the gravel. Gospel was holding Fair and Verus by their wrists and they crashed into the ground stomach first, though it looked like he slowed their descent by using a thunder spell to reverse the magnetic polarity of the ground and his sandals. Kairi used the amateur aero spell that Aqua taught us to slow her descent with Hikari on her back.

"Nam!" She ran over and hugged me before pulling away and giving me an approving look. "I knew you'd be alright."

"Thanks sis." I replied with a giggle.

"Xion!" I heard Sora yell at his unconscious sister. He was kneeling beside her, trying to shake her awake.

Terra walked over to him let him know that Xion was okay. "I used a healing spell and she is still breathing. She should wake up soon so let her rest." She has a very nurturing tone to her. Kind of reminds me of Aqua, without the hidden temper.

He seemed to relax a bit and laid Xion back down. "Thank you Branford."

"Don't mention it Hikari, and please call me Terra."

"Then call me Sora."

"Well." Gospel said in a relieved voice as he laid on his back with his hands behind his head. "At least everyone is okay." His slight accent causing me to relax as well. "We can take it easy for a moment before we look for the ship."

"We only have an hour and twenty minutes before we fail." I heard Verus reply. "Once Sora's sister wakes up, we need to get moving."

"Oh relax for a moment Verus. We have two hours left and a constant read out on our palms. The ship can't be that far from here." Gospel replied. I didn't know that. I don't think anyone else noticed since we each glanced at our palms, well everyone except Gospel and Verus. The clocks were black numbers with a red outline, the numbers **_0__1:19:35_** was imprinted on our palms.

"And how do you know that Gospel? You have a device on you that can tell us where it is?"

"We do." Sora replied. "When Riku and I met up, we found this lying on the ground." He pulled out a gray disk from his pocket. "From what we can gather there is a destination to the northeast of here. The locater says that we are about five kilometers away from whatever it was that this thing points to."

"I saw a flickering light northeast of here when Xion and I fell into the forest when the simulation started." Terra added.

"There ya go." Gospel replied.

"_Hurragh!"_ A loud booming roar sounded from the other side of the river and we saw a pair of Behemoths growling at us.

"Look who finally caught up." Gospel replied tauntingly.

Verus sat down next to Terra as he eyed the beasts. "We should be fine as long as we are on this side of the river." He analyzed. The Behemoths turned back into the forest and walked off as if to acknowledge his argument.

"Let's hope the pack doesn't show up." Kairi replied. If there are more of those things then we are going to need to move soon. Hopefully Xion wakes up before then.

"Well, while we sit and wait for Sora's sister to wake up. How about we trade info." Verus suggested.

"So far I've bumped into demon puppets and Behemoth's and I know for certain that there is at least two Behemoths running around in this forest." Kairi started.

"Make that six Behemoths. I saw them earlier before I got ambushed by a bunch of Reapers. That King Behemoth was with them, though it looks like most of the damage done to it has healed by now." Verus added. I noticed that the King Behemoth walked like it was still in pain. Whatever did that to it must be a monster in its own right.

"I wonder how that thing got so much damage in the first place." Riku added.

"That would be me." Terra replied meekly, earning a surprised look from all of us. "It was when Xion and I were walking together. The Behemoth burst out of the forest and chased us. I fired off a Flare shot to stop it, but it just brushed it off. Next thing I know we're falling down a waterfall."

"You can cast Flare?" I heard Verus actually get surprised.

Terra shifted uncomfortably. "Yes…"

"...Well we know our mage is certainly capable." Terra just smiled at the comment, I could see a little pink in her cheeks. She's probably embarrassed.

"Anyway, we should watch out for the Lizard men and Reapers." Gospel replied putting us back on subject. "The Reapers have three variations and can teleport except for the grunts, and the Lizard have three variations. One carries an axe and can borrow, they are pretty simple to take down."

"Then there are ice variations that can shoot ice shards, teleport in big chunks of ice, and regenerate wounds." Verus added.

"A fire spell should take care of them." Kairi added.

"Then there is the electrical variety. I can handle those no problem." Gospel emphasized his point with a spark of black lightning running up his arm.

"Other than that we should make a game plan. Simply heading northeast isn't going to be simple with those Behemoths around." Verus added.

"That's gonna be tough considering that three of us don't have any weapons or skills to fight with." Roxas added. He came back from the woods, holding a bundle of sticks for the fire. He placed them next to the fire and sat beside me.

"Good point." I added. "Kairi can use her fists and we already known that Terra can use magic. Sora, Riku, and Roxas are going to be in a tough spot if we get into a fight."

"Then we just make sure they don't get hurt." Gospel said simply. Talk about laid back. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't think when he fights.

"You make it sound easy Gospel." Verus replied sarcastically.

"It is, and call me Isaac. Makes things simpler." He replied.

"…Then call me Shin." Shin just sat back on his hands and let the argument go. Either he didn't feel he could win, or he probably didn't feel like dragging it out.

"Ugh…" Xion finally began to stir.

"Xion! Are you okay? Don't move too fast." Talk about your over protective brother, but it is nice to see that Sora isn't a complete goof.

"Yes Sora, I'm fine. Geez, you're like my brother or something." Xion replied smacking Sora's hands away in a playful manner.

Sora ruffled her hair in mock annoyance, putting her in a head lock. "That's because I am, you spaz."

"You two are certainly close." I heard Kairi comment.

"Well yeah. Aren't you close to your sisters?" Sora asked still ruffling Xion's hair.

Kairi looked at me and I simply smiled. "Of course we are. Just not that close." I replied for her.

"We usually don't ruffle our hair." Kairi added. We all laughed at the comment. Everyone except Isaac who seemed to tense ever so slightly at the topic. Terra seemed to pick up on it sense she glanced at him out the corner of her eye.

"So what did I miss?" Xion asked.

"You just missed your brother almost getting mauled by Behemoths and you almost drowning. Not to mention Isaac and Shin barely escaped a near death situation." Roxas replied.

"And we have an hour and seven minutes to find the ship." Shin replied. "Luckily we have a clue as to where to go." He pointed to disk that Sora had placed on the ground. The blue grid and flashing red light showing the location of the ship, hopefully.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on." She rose to her feet, but staggered all of a sudden. Sora quickly rose and caught her before she hit the ground. "Looks like my leg still hasn't healed yet." Xion replied jokingly. The giant hole in her jeans was a pretty good indicator of what had happened. Thanks to Terra she didn't have a scar, but I'm sure she still needs to lay off it for a while.

Terra made her way towards Xion and looked at her leg. "Your leg still hasn't healed fully. It's best if one of us carries you." Without even a suggestion, Sora got on a knee in front of her and motioned for her to get on his back.

"No time to argue Xion, the sooner we get moving the better." He added a goofy grin. Is that like his thing or something? If so, it is really funny.

Xion released a mock irritated sigh and said. "Fine~." She hopped on Sora's back and soon everyone rose to their feet as well. Isaac scooped the disk up into his hands.

"Hey Riku. Catch." He tossed the disk to Riku. "You seem to be quick on your feet, so you handle the map."

"Okay then, let's go." Riku replied.

* * *

_Roxas' POV_

We walked along the river bank for a while, everyone seeming to carry on a conversation along the way. Naminé was talking to Kairi about what school life would be like. Sora, Riku, and Xion were comparing their family situations. More specifically Riku and Xion were complaining about their older brothers' personality quirks. Shin was by himself in the center of the group, not really talking to anyone. He looked like he was lost deep in thought about something. Maybe he was thinking about what would happen once we reached the ship? From the argument he and Isaac had earlier, I wouldn't put it past him to be thinking ahead a little.

Speaking of Isaac, I was walking next to him at the back of the group with Terra. He was oddly quiet for what his personality lead on. Despite how he acted before his hood came off, he was completely different now. I wonder what's up.

Isaac turned his head towards me and raised a brow. "There something on my face Roxas?"

"Huh?"

"You've been staring at me for a good minute now, so I'm guessing I have something on my face… Besides my scars."

Awkward. I didn't even know I was staring. "Sorry, you just seem a little out of it."

"Oh?" He scratched his head absentmindedly, his dreads jostling and swaying from the motion. He looked forward and had a nostalgic smile when he answered. "I hadn't noticed."

"Were you thinking about something?" I continued to press the issue since we were the only ones, besides Shin, who weren't striking a casual conversation. Terra leaned forward too, letting us know she was interested.

Isaac looked towards Sora and Xion, that nostalgic smile shifting to an amused grin. "Those two…"

"Yes?" Terra replied.

"They remind me of these two kids I used to know. A little hard headed boy and a naïve optimistic girl. They were very close and always living in the moment." The nostalgic smile came back again.

"They sound like good people. Do you still talk to them?" Terra instantly regretted asking that question since Isaac grimaced ever so slightly.

"The little boy died five years ago. The girl got hurt something bad. We aren't sure she will ever recover." He replied in a somber tone.

"I'm sorry." Terra said. "I didn't mean to make you remember."

Isaac placed a reassuring hand on her head. "Don't let it bug ya. I would've remembered it sooner or later. Memories like those have a habit of resurfacing." Terra relaxed a little from his words. Not so much what he said, but how he said it. Sort of reminds you of a sage or an older brother that looks out for you without holding your hand all the time. Kind of like Cloud.

"From the sounds of it you have a fair share of those." We looked forward to see Shin looking over his shoulder at us. "I doubt one bad memory is enough to teach you that lesson."

Isaac just smirked again. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Believe what you will Shin. I not admitting nor denying." Isaac moved further up and joined the others at the front.

"He really likes dodging questions." I stated.

"It's in his personality and every aspect of his life from what I gather." Shin added.

"What do you mean Shin?" Terra asked our analytical team mate.

"I noticed when we were fending off the Reapers and the Lizards. He never actively blocked, just parries and redirects anything that is thrown at him. I only saw him block once and that was when a Reaper brought its scythe down on his head."

"Maybe he just doesn't like to talk about himself?" That's understandable. A lot of people don't like to talk about themselves.

"Terra, _I_ don't like to talk about myself. Isaac doesn't _want_ to talk about himself." What? "Why would someone as laid back as Isaac not want to talk about himself? I find it more than a little strange." Terra just giggled at Shin's reply earning a confused "What?"

"You're very observant Shin." Terra commented. "You'll make a great biologist one day." I saw Shin look away slightly, but I caught a hint of red in his face.

"I just like to have my bases covered is all."

Terra giggled at his response. "Especially considering we have to work together if we are going to pass this exam."

"Speaking of which, how close are we to the point on the locater?" I asked. I suddenly bumped it the back of Kairi, who had stopped along with the others. "Sorry."

"Well would you look at that." Riku said in an amused voice. I looked past him to see the ship.

"Yes! We found the ship!" Sora exclaimed.

I looked at my palm, the read out read **_00:__35:02_**. "Looks like we'll pass with flying colors guys." I replied.

"With thirty minutes left on the toughest exam. How could we not?" Kairi replied puffing out her chest.

"Only one problem." Riku stated. "How do we get to it?"

Everyone fell silent, finally noticing something that we initially overlooked, a gorge. There was a giant gorge over half a kilometer wide and a kilometer deep. Needless to say, we don't know how we are going to get across it. The ship was teetering on the edge of the far cliff, it was long, grey, and rectangular with four engines, two large ones over top two smaller, the nose of the ship curved down on to a point, a piece of the underside pointed outwards. I'm not sure where the entrance is, but we'll have time to sort that out when we actually _get_ to the thing. I'm glad we don't have to pilot it since the ship's engines were sputtering. Various panels were missing on the outside that exposed sparking wires and smoke.

"Any ideas guys?" Riku asked.

"We may be able to fly across the gorge." Xion suggested. "Terra can fly and Isaac and Kairi can leap long distances."

"I can only carry two people at a time." Terra replied.

"I can't leap that far without vaporizing anyone that touches me." Isaac added.

"And I can't get the aero spell to carry even myself that far and I can only carry one person." Kairi added.

"Not to mention it would be unwise to separate while those Behemoths are hunting us down." Shin added. I wish he hadn't.

I looked around and saw no way to actually cross the gorge. "Well, unless we can build a bridge in under an hour, we are pretty much stuck with the flying people across option." I said absent mindedly.

"That can be done." We all looked to Isaac who was taking off his cloak, exposing his platinum colored drape with black stitching that outlined a wolf howling at a moon that was outlined in sapphire blue stitching, craters and outlining that looked like a crack in ice, the wolf was over top a tree line on a jutting cliff with a forest behind it. I noticed that the tribal markings on his arms actually swirled all the way up his arms and disappeared into his black sleeveless shirt. He walked over and placed it on Xion before heading to the ledge. "The residual energy in that cloak should help heal that leg of yours faster." He then drew his split blades and approached the edge. "This is going to be a pain."

"What are you planning?" Shin asked, walking up next to Isaac.

"Well…" Isaac's body began to spark with black lightning that eventually turned to blue and focused into his arms. "I plan to make an energy bridge for all of us to traverse."

Shin looked at the gap. "Do you think you can support a bridge wide enough for all of us to walk on _and_ keep it stable?"

"Nope." That's reassuring. "Figured I'd wing it a bit. Just to be safe get that fancy blade of yours out Shin, and would you mind keeping a lightning spell on tap Terra?"

Shin pulled out a…a…a silver energy sword? What the hell? "Sure, but why?" Terra asked.

"You'll see." Isaac jammed the hilts of his swords together, the slanted hilts connecting perfectly so the blades faced opposite directions and separated them into two separate dual ended blades. If he can actually fight with those, then I'm glad he's on my team. He walked over to the edge of the cliff and stabbed one of the dual sided blades into the face and did the same thing eight meters away. "Okay, Shin. Come her for a sec would ya."

Shin walked over to Isaac with his silver blade still drawn. Isaac placed his hands on the silver glowing blade. "What are you planning to do?" Shin asked.

Isaac's blue sparks arced and flashed across his arms and enveloped Shin's blade and changing it from gold to sapphire blue. "I'm winging it right now." Isaac replied simply. "Terra, when I reach the other side, I want you to cast a lightning spell on my blades." He took a few steps back from the ledge and the blue sparks turned to a color that matched his exposed markings and radiated around his arms and legs.

"Wait a second…" Riku called, but Isaac had already taken off at an incredible speed. All I saw was a blur and then the next thing we knew he was half way across the gorge.

"What..." Sora started.

"The…" Riku continued.

"Heck…" Kairi finished.

Isaac landed on the other side of the gorge and skidded to a halt. He turned around and signaled for Terra to use her thunder magic.

Terra stepped up to the ledge and held out her hands. _"Thundara!"_ She chanted and pink bolts shot out of her hands and struck Isaac's blades.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

"Okay…" I said to myself with uncertainty. I have never connected spirit energy with magic before, but this should work. My platinum markings glowing and pulsing as the sapphire lightning sparked and arced around my arms. "Let's hope this works." I put my hands out in front of me, my fingertips pointed directly at my Star Killer, the space in between each finger arcing with lightning before they suddenly discharged the blue electricity with a loud thunderous clap.

* * *

_Terra's POV_

"Eep!" What was? Oh yeah I forgot Xion didn't like thunder.

We looked at Isaac's glowing form as his blue lightning connected with my pink sparks that I had charged his blades with earlier. His blades disconnected and moved across the gorge, the winged chains separating and adding additional links from the seven I had initially noticed. They eventually reached across the gorge and imbedded themselves in the opposite rock face.

The black chains began to glow blue, the glow was like a misty aura that rose and fumed ever so slightly before the light bridge began to form, a wide iridescent blue light spanning the length of the gorge appeared before us.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

"Looks like it works." I breathed out in a strained voice.

'_**Better test it out just to make sure.'**_ A far point. Wouldn't want to fail because I couldn't maintain a bridge.

I took a step on the bridge, still discharging electricity to it as I tested its stability. Looking good so far. I quickly made it to the other side of the where the others waited for me. "One of you mind testing this thing for me? I'm not sure you guys can stand on this yet."

Shin stepped forward and placed one foot on the beam bridge. He applied pressure to the wide beam of light. "We look good Isaac."

"Great! Let's hurry and get across before Murphy's law kicks in."

* * *

_Roxas' POV_

We stepped foot on the light bridge, it felt weird. Walking on the bridge was like stepping on sand, every step we took felt like we were displacing the light on the bridge before we felt it solidify and let us keep walking. "Isaac! How does this bridge work?"

Isaac looked like he was really straining to maintain the bridge as he called over his shoulder. "Electro Magnetism Roxas!"

"You mean, we're walking on a giant magnet?" That's a little hard to believe, humans don't give off a strong a magnetic signal.

"An Electro Magnet. Every creature to ever exist beats to the rhythm of its own electrical signal. I'm just making the opposite charge of all eight of your signals and letting you walk on the ionized air."

"Seems difficult." Riku commented.

"It be easier if you guys shared the same energy signal. But with Sora carrying Xion, I only have to deal with seven instead of eight, I'm used to using my own signal so it's almost second nature for me. Not to mention I charged Shin's blade with a little energy to help me maintain the bridge. I probably wouldn't be able to maintain it with how much energy I spent earlier in this crazy test." Looking at Shin's blade it was discharging energy into the bridge along with Isaac's energy.

"Here…" Terra said as she lifted into the air. "That should make it easier."

"Thanks." Isaac's discharging Lightning suddenly flashed brighter. "As long as nothing else steps on the bridge, we should be fine."

"That guy is full of surprises." I commented. "Swords that can combine and split at will and differing colors of electricity for different circumstances."

Shin eyed Isaac as we made it half way across the bridge. "Yeah. I wonder what world he comes from."

"Hmmm, maybe one of the worlds out near Gemini. Not all the worlds have been properly explored yet." Namine suggested.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter." Shin commented.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

This is much more difficult than I thought. At least we're almost to the other side. Though Sora seems to be lagging behind. Probably from having Xion on his back. I'm glad Terra decided to fly. I'm not sure how much longer I can support six electrical signals not to mention the weight.

'_**Would you like a hand Moses?'**_ The voice in my head asked.

'_No thanks, old man.'_ I mentally replied.

'_**I can maintain the bridge for you.'**_

'_I got it covered.'_

'_**You sure? You look like you're having a tough go at it.'**_

'_If I rely on you to solve all my problems, then what does that say about me?'_

'_**That you know your limits and are willing to accept a helping hand?'**_

'_Yeah, and that would be way too easy. I need to know that I can do my duty. I'll ask for help if I absolutely need it.'_

'_**Suit yourself. Just know I'm willing to help if you need it.'**_

'_Thanks.'_ I replied with relief that he will let me test myself.

"Isaac?" I looked to my right to see Terra floating next to me. "Would you like a little help?"

I looked down at the bridge, bits and pieces fluctuating in front and behind the group. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep going. _"Hurragh!"_ Figures.

Everyone stopped and tuned towards the source of the roar to see six Behemoths charging at us, the King Behemoth looked like he finally recovered from that Flare that Terra had hit him with.

"I think I'm gonna need some help. If you know a lightning spell now would be a good time to use it!"

"Right!" She moved to the other side of the bridge and chanted _"Thundara!"_ And a fiery pink bolt shot out of her hands, the same as here personal Aura, and added it to the energy supply.

"You guys better get a move on. Once those Behemoths reach the bridge, I won't be able to maintain the bridge for long." The rest of the squad took off running towards the opposite side of the bridge, the Behemoths closing in. Riku, Naminé, Shin, and I made it across right as the King Behemoth hit the bridge and made for the ship, I stayed behind to make sure the Sora, Xion, and Kairi made it across okay. "Ugh!" I felt my energy spike ever so slightly to maintain the bridge. I wish I knew how to deactivate one side of the bridge, but it's taking all I got just to keep the bridge active.

Sora was having trouble maintaining his footing, Kairi making her way back towards the siblings as the last of the Behemoths reached the bridge. "Hurry guys!" Terra exclaimed. "We can't keep this up much longer!"

* * *

_Kairi's POV_

"Come on Sora!" I grabbed Sora by the wrist and pulled him across the bridge, our footing becoming more unstable as Terra and Isaac struggled to maintain the bridge for us.

"Hold on Xion." I heard Sora call to his sister.

"I'll see if I can slow them down." Xion pulled out one of her Gunblades and aimed it at the Behemoths. She fired off a few shots, each one bouncing off the Behemoth's armored skin.

"I think you made them angry." Sora stated as we hauled it to the other end of the gorge.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

Those Behemoths are closing fast. Sora, Kairi, and Xion are close to the other side now, a few more seconds and I can drop those beasts into the gorge.

I looked to Terra, who was floating next to me. "Terra, on three we stop powering the bridge."

"Okay Isaac." She replied anxiously as she saw the Behemoths close in.

"One..." The Behemoths quickly got closer to the other side. "Two…" Kairi had reached the other end of the bridge with Sora and Xion in tow and ran for the Ship. "Three!" We stopped powering the bridge, the light dissipating under the Behemoths' feet. Four of the Behemoths fell into the gorge, the King Behemoth and one of the remaining subordinates clinging to the edge.

"Come on Terra, they are going to need some time to get to the ship." It was at least a fifty meter sprint. Unfortunately the others were just sitting outside the ship. I'm guessing the door was locked.

"Okay, you get your blades. I'll make sure the others are safe." She flew towards the ship and I went to retrieve my Star Killer.

* * *

_Shin's POV_

'_Damn it! Why did the doors have to be locked?!'_ We are right at the door and it is locked. I don't mean code locked, that would be simple. It was code locked AND welded shut from the impact. I was crouched down trying to rewire the door so the hydraulics would overload and pry the door loose.

"Better hurry with the hydraulics Shin-" _"Huarrgh!"_ "Those Behemoths are closing fast." Riku said. He was next to me trying to hack the panel on the side of the door.

"This isn't easy Riku. It doesn't help that I only have my hands." I replied.

"What's the hold up?" Sora asked as he and Kairi finally caught up.

"The door is locked." Naminé replied.

"Have you tried hacking it?" Kairi asked.

"Nah, of course not." I replied pointing to Riku, who was hacking the door.

"No need to get smart Shin." She replied with a simple hmph.

"What's the problem guys?" I heard Terra ask as she floated above us.

"We need a lock smith and these two aren't exactly cut out for the job." Kairi responded.

"Sorry for being a Biologist." I half-joked.

"It doesn't help that the doors jammed." Riku added. "If it wasn't for that then maybe we could get somewhere."

"_Hurragh!"_ We looked at the King Behemoth and Behemoth that was attacking Isaac. From the looks of things, he still had an electrical connection to his blades from the black bolts that were radiating off of him and striking his blades, probably an attempt to pull them towards him.

"Make it quick. We'll hold them off." Terra replied and flew off.

"Sora, lay me against the ship. I'll shoot them from here." Xion asked.

"Okay." He laid her down next to Riku, she took one of her blades and aimed them at the two Behemoths.

Terra had erected a wall of fire between us and the Behemoths. Isaac had retrieved his blades at this point and stood his ground by standing in front of the fire wall and swinging his blades by the chain on the hilt, the blades now a pair of split blade swords again. I assume it's easier to fight like that when dealing with Behemoths.

"I'll help too. You two keep working on the-" _"Hurragh!"_ I was interrupted by a very none encouraging roar. We looked to our left at the cliff edge to see one of the Behemoths that we thought were dead had clawed up the side of the gorge.

"Damn it!" Sora exclaimed punching the wall. "Why now of all times?!"

"And three of us don't even have weapons." Roxas exclaimed. As if on cue, the wall that Sora punched fell opened and revealed a rack of swords. It was too much to give us guns, huh?

"Well? What are you waiting for an invitation?" I said. "Pick a sword and get ready. That thing isn't going to wait all day." Riku, Sora, and Roxas each grabbed a sword and prepared to fight. Riku returned to panel and continued to hack it while the others, except for Xion, formed a lined between us and the Behemoth.

"This is going to be a pain." I heard Sora comment.

"Just focus on slowing it down." Kairi replied and jumped towards the hulking beast. I returned to wiring the hydraulics, I'd rather get this done soon.

* * *

_Terra' POV_

"_Flare!"_ I chanted at the regular Behemoth, a ball of flame hurdling towards the beast, only to have it dodge the attack. Isaac already had the King Behemoth on its second wind since it was standing on its two hind legs and had its circular saw drawn.

I glanced to the far side of the fire wall I created to keep the others safe while they worked on the door. To my horror I saw that Kairi, Naminé, Sora and Roxas were fending off another Behemoth on the other side of the wall. How did one get by? They were supposed to have perished in the fall.

"Don't let it distract you Terra!" I heard Isaac call to me. I turned to see him redirect the buzz saw into the ground and jump on the King Behemoth's back and stab one of his split blades into its back before quickly jumping off of it and pulling the sword free. "They can handle themselves."

"But-" "Just focus on the enemy in front of you. Beat him and you can help them." I looked back to the others. Kairi had jumped on the Behemoth's back and Naminé was hitting the beast in the head repeatedly with Roxas and Sora on either side, hacking away at its legs, the Behemoth had a hard time just picking a target to attack with all them keeping it off balance and disoriented.

"Okay." I reluctantly replied.

"Don't worry about them. They wouldn't be here if they couldn't handle themselves." Isaac replied, dodging another swing from the Behemoth and pushing off the ground to kick it in the chin.

The Behemoth I was fighting leapt up at me and opened its mouth in an attempt to bite my leg. I pulled back and threw my hands up. _"Fira!"_ I chanted and a barrage of fire balls flew towards the Behemoth's mouth. I don't think it likes spicy food since it flinched and swiped at its mouth.

'_I need to finish this fast. I'm not sure how much longer the others can hold out without magic.'_

'_**Let me out and you can clean this thing up in an instant.'**_ That taunting voice again. Why now of all times.

'_Not you again. I don't have time to deal with you right now.'_

'_**Aw, you're breaking my heart. Fine. If you aren't going to let me out, then at least put a little more force behind it, you already admitted you can use Flare. You're holding back so much a Flan could take you out.'**_ She taunted me again. That's all she ever does is taunt me._** 'Or at least use Apocalypse to cleave this pathetic spec in two.'**_

'_FINE just shut up already.'_ I'd rather not use too much power and risk an episode, but using Apocalypse is more than okay, if only to help the others sooner.

'_**Just remember, you're no different than me.'**_ The voice taunted me again.

'_I'm very different than you.'_ I shot back, dodging another swipe from the Behemoth.

'_**Oh really?'**_

'_Yes.'_ I mentally growled.

'_**At least I'm willing to try and help Isaac with the tougher of the two Behemoths. You just think of helping the others with a weaker opponent that even those flies could handle.'**_

I brought my hands together and prepared to summon Apocalypse, ignoring the other voice.

'_**What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Or did little goody, goody realize that she is nothing more a cold hearted bitch?'**_

'_Which would you rather choose? Helping the many who can __**barely**__ handle a simple opponent for you, or the __**one**__ that handle a tougher opponent without breaking so much as a sweat?'_

'…'

'_What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Or did the headache realize how stupid she really is?'_

'…_**This isn't over little girl.'**_

'_If it were this would be much simpler.'_ I felt the power of Apocalypse collect in my grip. The damaged and chipped hilt forming in my hands, the tattered and abused red cloth the circled the black hilt, a lone amethyst stone in the center being the only thing of beauty to the handle. The blade itself was even more decrepit, the dark grey over lined by a blood crimson edge. The blade itself held various holes in the center of varying sizes. Yet despite its looks, I have yet to find anything it could not cut.

I eyed the Behemoth in front of me and readied to strike it down. Isaac was moving at breakneck speeds again, firing black bolts of lightning at the King Behemoth. _'I'll make this quick and help the others.'_ The Behemoth clawed at me again. I brought Apocalypse down on its claw and cleaved it off. Before the Behemoth could react, I followed up with the body length blade held down as I flew towards it and let the blade connect with its head. The blade cut through the armored hide with ease and I continued to fly forward with blade cutting into the rest of the Behemoth and cleaved all the way through the hulking beast.

I looked back at the Behemoth to see it fall in two with its muscles and sinus pouring forth blood. I looked at my blade, stained in blood and various tissues clinging to the chips and divots in Apocalypse's blade. I fought back the urge to throw up, I knew that using this weapon risked letting _her_ out, but I needed to make this quick. I set my sights on the King Behemoth to see Isaac had combined his split blades again cleave off one of the King Behemoth's leg before separting back into two separate swords.

'_He should be fine.'_ I looked to the others to see Roxas get clawed at by the Behemoth, his shirt being torn and his chest bleeding. Naminé, struggled to get him away from the fight while simultaneously defending herself. _'They need my help more than he does.'_

I flew towards them and readied to give them a hand.

* * *

_Naminé's POV_

This is not going well. Roxas is bleeding profusely and Kairi and Sora are the only ones still fighting that Behemoth off. Xion had been shooting it all the while and Shin and Riku still had yet to get the ship door open.

"Agh!" Roxas choked out.

I laid him on the opposite side of the door, next to Shin. "Try not to move too much." I tried to calm him down. "Shin, how is the door coming?"

"Not good. The hydraulics are completely shot from the impact. Even if I could get power routing to them, they wouldn't even function." He rose to his feet and drew his winged hilt, the golden beam sword glowing as it exited the sheath. "I have no idea how we are going to get into the ship."

I looked to the left to see Riku heading towards the fight. His blade drawn back and his left hand extended out in front of him in a taunting fashion.

"You guys alright?" We looked up to see Terra floating above us with a massive, chipped, blood stained claymore in her right hand. How in Comos' name can she hold that thing?

"Agh!" Roxas shouted again, reminding me that now is not the time to question minor details.

"Roxas is bleeding and the door won't open!" I explained quickly.

"I'll take care of Roxas. Shin, can you use a fire spell your sword?"

"Yes." Shin replied.

"Do you think you could cut through the door if you enchanted your sword?"

Shin looked at his blade and grimaced slightly. "I can try."

"Naminé, go help the others with the Behemoth. I'll join you guys when Roxas is stable." I nodded in response and took off towards the Behemoth.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

No wonder they call it a King Behemoth, this thing is tough. Even after losing a leg it is still gunning for me. The buzz saw is very easily swung. I'm sure that I've chipped off a couple of the blades on the thing and Terra has already dispensed with the Behemoth she was dealing with. The corpse was laying in two large pieces with a massive pool of blood around it making it painfully apparent that she had killed it.

The King Behemoth was starting to slow down. Even with its regenerative abilities, it doesn't seem able to regrow limbs and as a result it was losing a lot of blood. A little longer and I can help the others.

The King Behemoth brought its buzz saw down on head, using all the strength it could muster to lift the massive weapon. The buzz saw came down and I dodged the spinning blade and leapt towards it head and swung at its neck with my reverse gripped sword. I nicked its neck and caused the Behemoth to spin around in shock, letting go of the buzz saw and have it grind into the nearby ground. I bounded off a tree and lunged back at the Behemoth, flipping my grip so I held it more traditionally and cut the opposite side its neck. I landed on the ground and spun on my left foot, bringing the slanted hilt of my sword up and stabbing it into the Behemoth's head as it spun around again and impaled its brain. The Behemoth snarled and went limp, collapsing to the ground.

I turned to seem Terra healing Roxas, the firewall dissipating, and the others were handling the Behemoth. Kairi had delivered a number of blows to the Behemoth, Sora and Riku had managed to cut through its hide and it was bleeding through the openings. Shin was cutting through the ship's door. I'm guessing they couldn't hack the panel. His golden blade now a raging red. He was cutting the left side of the door, where the locking mechanisms were located, and was working his way up the side slowly.

I took off towards the remaining Behemoth, closing the hundred meter gap in less than ten seconds. I'm a very fast person, that's about the only I have to brag about. "Sora! Move!" Sora looked at me and side stepped. I brought my left blade back and leapt into the air. I came down and stabbed the blade through the Behemoth's neck. The creature roared and shook violently from the pain of having a large chunk of sharp crystal run through its neck. Yes, I said crystal, but now is not the time for a lengthy explanation.

"I could use some help here!" I shouted at the others.

Sora and Riku joined in and stabbed the beast in various points on the Behemoth's head. Sora stabbing clumsily into the Behemoth's eye and Riku stabbing it through its brain. The beast still roared and snapped its teeth at Riku's legs in an attempt to maul him. I brought my free sword up and stabbed it down on into the Behemoth's head. The creature roared again and manage to tear Riku's jeans before finally going limp.

Kairi jumped down from the Behemoth's back and Sora and Riku left their blades in the Behemoth's skull. I withdrew my blades and replaced them on my hips. We went back towards the others, Terra had put away that massive blade she had summoned. That dainty girl is much stronger than she looks. Looks like she was casting another Cura spell on Roxas, his wounds closing up from the green glow.

Shin was half-way up the door with his beam sword. "How we looking?" I asked.

"We're close, in another minute or two we should be in."

I looked at my palm and saw **_00:0__15:12_**. Just in the nick of time. "Good…" I breathed out as I laid against the wall and slid down to a sitting position next to Xion. "That was one helluva work out."

I felt something heavy and soft hit my lap. I opened my eyes to see my cloak draped over me. "Thank you for the cloak. My leg feels a little better." Xion smiled while she rubbed her leg. "I should be fine once we get out of this simulation."

"Got it!" Shin said. "Can someone give me a hand with this thing?"

"I got it." Kairi walked over to the door and placed her hands on the handle and pulled, the door barely moved as it screeched along the metallic frame. I put my cloak back on and prepared to finish this crazy test.

"_Hurragh!"_ Oh you have got to be kidding me. Nine more Behemoths came barreling out of the forest, three of which were King Behemoths.

"Oh come on!" Xion exclaimed.

"We don't have time for this." Riku stated placing a hand on his forehead.

"Uh guys…" Naminé called to us, we looked to her to see her looking above the ship, various low hissing and moaning sounds emanating from that direction.

There is no way our luck was that bad. I looked at the source of the sound to see multiple Lizards and Reapers crawling all over the top of the ship. "To the guy named Murphy. SCREW YOU!" I shouted.

"Kairi~!" Riku said with a sense of urgency.

"Working on it!" She replied quickly.

"Get the injured inside the moment that door is wide enough!" I shouted.

"What are you going to do?" Shin asked me.

"You, Kairi, Terra, and I are going to hold them off." I charged my legs with platinum bolts of lightning and charge towards the Behemoths.

* * *

_Shin's POV_

**_00:010:15_**, the read out on my palm is not making this any less stressful. Isaac was flying towards the group of Behemoths, which has to be the dumbest move he can make right now. If he gets surrounded, there will be no way to get him back to the ship in time.

"_Thundara!"_ I heard Terra chant next to me, a flash of pink lightning struck the top of the ship, some of the Reapers and the Lightning Lizards teleported away the ones that couldn't were electrocuted and draped over the side with ash dripping to the ground. "We have to hold them off Shin."

"How?!" I brought my blade up to block a purple Reaper's scythe that had teleported next to me. _"Fire Blade!"_ I enchanted. I pushed the Reaper back and swung at it, I managed to cut it slightly before it teleported away. It appeared back on top of the ship and was on fire from the heat of my enchantment and spread it to a few other Reapers causing the group to disperse from the top of the ship onto the ground in front of us, putting the Reapers and Lizards between us and Isaac.

"The doors open!" Kairi called as she took a spot next to us. Naminé and Sora rushed Xion and Roxas into the ship, Riku stood by the door and ushered us to come in.

"We need to get Isaac." I replied as I backed up towards the door with Kairi and Terra, slashing at the Ice Lizards that tried to attack us.

"I'll get him. I'm the only one that fly." Terra replied and flew off towards the group of circling Behemoths.

"Come on Shin. We need to see after the others." Kairi led me to the door, I got hit in the chest by the scythe of a Grim Reaper as we ducked into the ship where we found a series of seats where Roxas was laying down. Xion was by the door shooting her Gunblades at the Lizards and Reapers that tried to get close, she managed to take down some of the smaller Reapers while holding off the tougher enemies.

I looked at my palm **_00:05:01_**. "Come on you two." I breathed out, keeping my flaming sword at the ready.

* * *

_Terra's POV_

Isaac wasn't looking good. His arms and cheeks were bleeding, his cloak had gashes in the back. "Isaac! The door is open and we only have five minutes."

"Got it!" Isaac combined his blades into a single dual sided sword and split that into two dual sided swords. He spun around, twirling the blades in his fingers and nicking some of the Behemoths that got too close. A Behemoth suddenly lunged at him and flung one of his blades at the beast, the blade cut through the Behemoth's stomach and split in two, the blade circled around and cut off the head of another and removed the lead of a King Behemoth.

His legs course with platinum colored lightning and he jumped into the air and grabbed me by the hand. I looked at my palm and saw the readout say **_00:02:01_**. "We only have two minutes Isaac!" I exclaimed as Isaac moved at an amazing speed towards the door of the ship.

He moved towards the ship door and past the group of Reapers and Lizards and jumped head long towards the threshold. He pulled me close as we sailed through the air on his momentum. "Better hold on Terra." He replied. Before I knew it, we were slamming against the wall of the interior of the ship. "Close the door!" He shouted. I went to check up on Shin. Kairi, Riku, and Sora went and shut the door. A loud audible click resounding through the ship.

We waited for a long time for the sound of claws and scythes against the hull of the ship.


	5. Chapter IV: Welcome Party

Tales of Guardians

Chapter IV: Welcome Party

* * *

Era: Tranquil-Mystic Calendar

Cycle: June 21, 2548

Time: 16:53 Galactic Standard Time, 07:10 Resident Time

Star Cluster: HUB

Planet: Resident

Location: High Orbit, Fifty Minutes to Touch Down

* * *

_Terra's POV_

We waited a long time for the sound of claws and scythes against the hull of the ship, but it never came.

"Did we make it?" Xion asked.

"_Cura!"_ I chanted and healed the gash on Shin's chest. "That should do it." I said and looked up into his brown eyes.

He looked at me too and seemed to tense when I place a hand on his chest to make sure there wasn't a scar. "T-thanks…" He replied.

I felt myself blush slightly "Don't mention it." I quickly stood up. "I should check on Roxas."

* * *

_Sora's POV_

I looked at my palm and saw that it was flashing _00:00:23_. "We did it." I breathed out. I sat next to Xion after I said it. I was just too relieved that we were done to be excited that we passed. "We passed the test with twenty-three seconds to spare."

"_That would be correct Mister Hikari."_ There was the sound of Commander Sark's voice. It was followed by a bright light and we were suddenly thrown back into the real world, scars and all.

"Congratulations guys!" We heard Tifa exclaim as she and Aqua jumped down from the stadium seats.

"You are now official members of SOLDIER!" Aqua added to our relief.

I saw Isaac and the others come over to meet our dorm advisors.

"Alright!" Isaac replied rubbing his neck, probably hurts from that crash landing he did. "I wasn't sure if I could take another wave of Behemoths."

"Me neither." Shin added putting his silver sword back in his sheath.

"Lucky for you guys, you won't have to any time soon." Tifa replied adding an extra wave of relief.

"_Congratulations Squad Seven."_ Tron said. _"You have passed simulation seven and are now enrolled as freshman at SOLDIER Institute. You already know your Dorm Advisors, now you will be escorted to your dorm in the resident area of the campus."_

"You heard the glowing man. Follow us and you will soon be able to rest." Thank you Cosmos. After the day I had, I need a break.

* * *

After a twenty minute walk we reach our dorms on the western coast of the island. Each dorm looked like a mansion standing at two stories tall. It was still raining outside so we had to use umbrellas. But we had to pair up since there weren't many. Riku, Xion, and me shared one with Roxas, Naminé and Tifa sharing another. Kairi and Aqua shard one more and Terra and Shin shared the last one. Isaac wore his hood since he was the only one with a hooded piece of clothing.

"Here are your dorms." We were escorted to the one on the far right. "This will be where you guys will be staying, the Ark. It has the best view of the ocean no matter the time of day."

"Why do they call it The Ark?" Xion asked as we reached the front door.

Aqua tensed up a bit while Tifa searched her pocket for the key. "It's named for the Celestial flagship that lead the campaign against Orochi Akuto during the Celestial War." Tifa replied.

I noticed everyone seemed to either shift uncomfortably or in Naminé's case grimace slightly, Kairi even more so, Isaac and Roxas didn't seem to pay it any mind. "Why do we have to stay in a dorm named for the Celestials?" Kairi practically spat out. Where did that come from?

"Because the Ark was the most powerful weapon at the Celestials' disposal. It symbolized peace and unity during the division. It is supposed to give you guys a sense of belonging." Aqua tried to reason with Kairi. I wonder what her problem is.

"Where was that unity when they left the galaxy to be plunged into turmoil while they hid behind a veil?" Kairi looked like she was about to explode.

"You know what the texts say Kairi."

"Were you there Aqua? Do you even know if they were really locked away in a pocket dimension because they were playing the martyr, or were they just saving their own skins?"

"…" Aqua didn't respond. She just looked at Kairi remorsefully.

"The same could be say for your argument Kairi." Isaac replied from the back, causing us to turn to face him. "You don't know what happened during the final days of the Celestial War. If it wasn't for the remaining Celestials, you probably wouldn't be here right now."

Kairi walked up to the Isaac and stood less than a meter away from him. "Don't you dare defend them Isaac."

"Someone has a chip on their shoulder. What's the matter? You parents raised you with the seed of petty hate?" Isaac shot back at her in a half joking, half condescending voice, his slight accent emphasizing his point.

"My parents are dead because of the Celestials." Kairi growled silently. That explains why she doesn't like the Celestials. "They were killed on a patrol ship enroute to the Andromeda Cluster by a Celestial ship."

"Do you have any proof?" Isaac challenged, which he probably shouldn't have.

"I'll get proof once I hit First Class." Kairi replied getting closer to him.

"More like you want a reason to start another war." Isaac replied keeping his demeanor calm and standing his ground.

"I'm not trying to start a war! I'm not like Akuto."

"You want to raise suspicion on a species without reason. You have eliminated every other reason for your parent's deaths, Space Pirates and the possibility that they simply got themselves killed doing something stupid." _SMACK!_ Oh that's got to hurt. Kairi hit Isaac square in his jaw, snapping his head to the side briefly and slightly stumbling back from the force of Kairi's strike.

"Don't. You. Dare!" Kairi spat out venomously.

"Whatever." Isaac shrugged it off and moved past her. "You claim you're not like Akuto, you're simply trying to find proof of a murder. But all I see is a whiney bigot trying to carry out her sense of justice. You are no different than Akuto."

We just stood silent at the remark, no one was expecting Isaac to act like that. Even Aqua looked taken aback by Isaac's reply. Kairi was shaking with anger where she stood, her back to us. She definitely wanted to say something in reply, but she just could not find the words.

"Door's opened!" Tifa beamed cheerfully and we all went inside the large mansion.

Isaac walked past Aqua and gave her a simple look, not one of malice or contempt, just a neutral look. "I'm not apologizing Aqua." He said.

"I didn't think you would. I just wish you went a little easier on her." Aqua replied and looked at Kairi who was being comforted by her little sister.

"He went too far." I heard Shin comment next to me as we went to the door.

"You think so?" I replied.

"I know so."

"Okay guys, your rooms are labeled and your bags should already be waiting for you." Tifa told us. "We just need to wait for-" "We're here dearie!" She was cut off by the sound of a motherly voice.

We looked up to see three balls of red, blue, and green light flying towards us. The red one materialized into an elderly woman wearing a red dress with a pointy hat and yellow veil tying it to her head and a yellow streak down the center of her dress. "I'm Fauna." She introduced herself.

"I'm Flora." The green light materialized into another elderly woman in the same attire as Fauna, except it was green of course. She was slightly thinner than Fauna and only a hair shorter.

"And I'm Merryweather." The blue light Materialized into another elderly woman in blue. She was much shorter and a little more rounded than Fauna and Flora. "We are the Three Good Fairies."

"Though that's just what everybody calls us." Flora added in a motherly tone.

"We just help the students out around campus and the like. We even enchanted the brooms that handed you the cards this morning." Fauna added matching Flora's tone.

"Now we are here to give you guys your uniforms." Merryweather said.

"Do we have too?" Xion whined. She doesn't like wearing uniforms. I don't blame her given the perverts back home.

"Not to worry dearie." Flora told her. "These clothes are special and will take a differing appearance depending on who your inner self is." I saw Terra tense slightly out of my peripheral, I just brushed it off as her being embarrassed. "They are self-repairing and just as protective as the most advance armor."

"All except for Shin and Isaac." Fauna told us.

"So without further ado." Flora started.

"Let's get you guys changed!" Merryweather beamed.

"Sora, why don't you go first?" Tifa pushed me forward. Man how strong is she? She pushed me like I was an inflatable ball.

"Hmmm. I think red would do nicely." Fauna waved her wand and a red beam of light flew out and hit me. My torn jeans and white shirt turned red, well my shirt turned pink, but it still counts.

"I think green is much better." Flora turned my cloths green.

"No, blue!" I think you can see where this is going.

"No, green!"

"Red!"

"Blue!"

"Red!"

"Green!"

"Blue!"

"Red!"

"Oh, would you just decide already?" I pleaded with the three fairies feeling really dizzy from the flashes of light I had been hit with.

"Oh my! Sorry about that Sora." Fauna replied. "Alright girls, all together now. And no more squabbling." They all flicked their wands and I was hit with all three balls of light.

My cloths flashed a bright white light briefly. I looked down to see that my clothes had changed completely. I was now wearing a black short sleeved jacket with black jeans. The jacket had white trimming around the sleeves and grey covering the shoulders, the light flexible armored variety, it was unzipped in the center to reveal a blue T-shirt with red pockets on the front. My pants, while black as a base color, had deep midnight blue around the crotch area and yellow straps that looped from my hips to form an X on the front and back and a yellow strap around my thighs. The straps served to hold up the cargo pockets on the sides. My shoes matched my cloths with a black base coloring and a yellow secondary on the heels with a black strip separating them in the back, blue straps forming an X on the top of my feet. My hands had black fingerless gloves with white stripes that formed an X and a yellow band around the wrist. I still had the necklace Hayner gave me around my neck.

"Whoa! This is amazing, thank you!" I exclaimed.

"Don't mention it, now whose next?" Fauna asked with a warm smile.

"You look amazing Sora!" Xion exclaimed. She always was big on clothing, but in this sense, I really do look awesome. "I can't wait till it's my turn." Oh this is gonna be good.

* * *

_Kairi's POV_

Looks like I'm next. I passed by, ugh, Isaac… I thought he was alright at first, but now I really don't want to so much as look at him.

I approached the Good Fairies, passing Sora who got a decent wardrobe change. I guess this is how Aqua got her cloths. I hope I get something amazing like Aqua.

They hit me with their magic and I felt a warmth hit me as I was enveloped in light. When it faded, I looked down to see a one piece, pink, spaghetti strapped top with three zippers on the front that ran the length of the top and opened into a skirt and had a black hood on the back, the spaghetti straps being connected to the hood. I had on a white under shirt and necklace with a single pearl in the shape of a tear drop and a black and gray striped wrist band. Around my waist was a black belt with two looping straps, one held up a black bag on my left hip. I wore Lavender high top converse with two black strings tied around my lower shin, just above the shoes, and two black straps in an X shape for laces.

"This is so… Cute! I really like this look." What? It's a good look. Not to mention my mood certainly improved.

"We're glad you like it dearie." Flora replied with a bright smile.

* * *

_Riku's POV_

I wonder what they are going to hit me with. Though I'm sure it will be nice. The clothes are based off our personality so no matter what, it will be cool.

Merryweather looked at me and said. "Oh, you must be Zack's little brother." Here we go…

"Y-yeah." I replied apprehensively. Every time I hear that it is usually followed by a cringe worthy and embarrassing remark.

"We were surprised to see how down to earth his clothes were when he went through the transmutation process." Really?

"Grounded how?" I asked.

"I think it would be better if you see for yourself."

"For now, let's see if you are full of surprises like him." Flora replied before I was engulfed in light.

I came to with clothes very different to what I had on before. I wore a sleeveless vest that was unzipped down the front revealing a black sleeveless shirt. The collar of the vest was folded out to reveal the yellow lining. The bottom of the vest had a yellow and a blue stripe around the waist. Finally were my faded blue jeans held up by a black belt with a double pin buckle, and white shoes with black laces and a grip with a yellow ring around the sole of my shoes. My left hand had a white glove that left my palm open and stopped half-way up my foreman.

"Not half bad. I was expecting something a little more snarky. I guess I am full of surprises."

"The clothes reflect who you are, not necessarily who you think you are." Fauna told.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'm afraid that's for you to find out Riku." Flora replied. Should've figured that would be the case.

* * *

_Xion's POV_

Yes! I get free room and board AND free cloths. Score! I can't wait to see how awesome my clothes are.

"You must be Xion." Merryweather said.

"Yes, Ma'am!" I beamed.

"My, aren't we excited." Flora giggled at my eagerness.

"Let's not keep Xion waiting." Fauna said before I was hit with the beam of light. When the light faded I looked to see that I was wearing…an all-black desert cloak that was tattered near the bottom. This can't be right?

"Try opening the cloak dearie." Flora suggested.

I opened it to find more black except so much more awesome. I had on a dress similar to Kairi's except it was a black halter top without a hood and had an icy blue pattern in the form of jutting icicles that rose partially from the bottom of my dress and up the sides of my torso, giving a frosting effect you would see on windows, the bottom sides of my dress were indented by two inches to allow better movement. A silver zipper down the middle with a dangling silver necklace that was attached to the lip of the top with two long silver pull strands on either side that fell to my stomach. I had on long sleeves that stopped at my bicep and pointed up towards my shoulder and on the back of my hand. The rim of the dress held a smaller frosted pattern and the sleeves had a frost pattern rise up from my hand to the bend o my elbow. The whole dress, sleeves included, were outlined in icy blue trim to accentuate the frost pattern motif. My shoes were knee high converse with, guess what, icy blue laces along with thigh high black stockings. To finish off, I wore an icy blue necklace with a black rotating hour glass attached to it, the sand was the same icy blue as everything else. I looked like a wicked sorceress in these cloths.

"This is amazing! Thank you so much!" I was practically jumping with joy.

"You are quite welcome dearie." Flora replied with chuckle.

* * *

_Naminé's POV_

I wonder what I'll get as a uniform. Everyone else looked so amazing and in some cases so simple. I wonder which one I'll get.

"No need to fret over it Naminé." Fauna told me, probably sensing my anticipation. "The clothes are a reflection of who you are."

"There is no such thing as ugly in this fashion show." Merryweather added.

I took a hesitant step forward, but I was full of anticipation at the idea of my uniform. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Here we go girls."

I was hit with their magic and looked at my clothes. I was wearing a simple one piece night gown that was no longer than Kairi' top. It was white as snow and soft as silk, being made of lace. On my feet were glass blue beach sandals with a golden star fastener on the straps around my ankles.

"How elegant." I heard Merryweather say.

"Simple, yet stunning. You are a special one." Fauna told me to which I blushed slightly from the compliments.

"Thank you very much." I replied and hurried back to the group.

* * *

_Roxas' POV_

Looks like it's my turn now. I wonder what my clothes are going to look like. Sora and Riku look like absolute badasses, Kairi and Xion look like femme fatales while Naminé…Naminé looks absolutely gorgeous in her dress. Oh man, am I staring? I hope not. I don't want to seem awkward or creepy around her.

"Ah, you must be Areith's little brother Roxas." Flora told me. "She has the loveliest kiosk on campus."

"Thank you Flora." I replied, not really wanting to think about it.

"And it's good to see you are doing better than the last time we saw you. I'm sure your clothes will reflect that strength of will you have." Fauna added, making me rub the back of my head. "All together now."

I was engulfed in their magic and when I came to my clothes had changed like the others. I wore a white, short sleeved, hoodless jacket with a folded out collar that revealed the scarlet red lining of my jacket. It had a black zig-zag stitch pattern along the shoulders with black trim around the sleeves. The front was unzipped revealing the black turtle neck short sleeved shirt with a zipper tag that resembled a four star shuriken with grey trim around the hem of my shirt. My pants were white along the legs and black around the crotch. My shoes were black on top and grey the rest of the way with red straps in the form of an X, like Sora's. I had a black and white checkered wrist band with a black wrap around the base of my left index finger and white around my middle finger.

"Looks like you will be just fine Roxas." Flora said.

"Thanks you guys. These look amazing."

* * *

_Terra's POV_

Looks like I'm the last to go. Everyone else got some nice new clothes. Hopefully mine isn't anything like Apocalypse.

"Are you the last to go dearie?" Fauna asked me.

"Yes ma'am." I replied hesitantly.

"There is no need to worry dear." Fauna told me.

"The cloths will be lovely." Flora added.

"We've never had a student receive cloths that were out of character for them." Merryweather added.

"Now just relax and let our magic do its, well, magic." Fauna finished.

They waved their wands and I was engulfed in a warm light. I looked down to see my cloths now resembled a red, halter top dress, like Xion's, that stopped at my waist where multiple pink and purple sashes rested. The red dress had a lovely floral pattern to it and matching red gloves that extended up my arms and stopped just before my shoulders with a floral pattern at the top, the gloves opened at the bottom to reveal a little bit of my back hand and leave my palms exposed. I had a pink cape that hung off my shoulders and down to me heels that slowly transitioned into lavender. I had on white tights with red shoes that had golden heels and tips. I'm glad they aren't high heels or I would have to fly all the time. I noticed that I had a ribbon on my head, probably to match my dress since there wasn't a mirror in the room

"How lovely. You must have a loving personality." Merryweather said.

I'm glad that's the only thing they got from it. I'm sure the red means something else. "Thank you very much."

"Well dearies that is all that we came here to do." Merryweather said.

"Oh, we almost forgot." Flora shot a beam of light at Shin, it managed to fix his tattered attire. "Much better."

"Well we won't keep you much longer. Have fun getting settled into your dorm and enjoy your time at SOLDIER." With Fauna's last words the Three Good Fairies turned into balls of light and flew off.

* * *

_Sora's POV_

Well now that our fashion show is over maybe we can-" _"Arf, arf!"_ What was that?

"Fang!" Isaac exclaimed as a puppy came barreling down the stairs, it was jet black and had platinum-sapphire markings on its fur that resembled that of wind and storm clouds. It had fur that plumed up its forelegs and hind legs and around its ankles. "How you doing girl." The puppy jumped into his arms and he rubbed it enthusiastically.

"Oh my gosh! Is that a puppy?!" Terra exclaimed moving next to the two.

"Actually it's a wolf cub that I've raised for the past few years."

"Can I pet her?" Terra slowly got closer to the cub.

"If she'll let you." The wolf cub, now on her back from the intense petting, looked at Terra with curious eyes.

"Hello Fang. I'm Terra." Terra reached out a hand and Fang…walked away. "Wha?" She squeaked out in disbelief.

"Why am I not surprised." He looked back to Terra. "Sorry about that. She doesn't like anyone else petting her."

"But…" Uh oh, I know that look. Xion used to do that before she cried every time she saw a dead cat on the road.

"Hey, hey. It's just how she is. She didn't like my sister when they first met, but she opened up to her. Just give her some time." Isaac replied in a very big brother tone.

"Really?" Terra questioned with that puppy dog look on her face, and oh my Goddess does that need to be nerfed. I doubt anyone could say no to that!

"Yes." He replied reassuringly.

"Okay, then I'll just keep trying till she accepts me." Terra clenched her fists in determination.

"That's the spirit." Isaac rose to his feet and headed for one of the couches. I should probably mention what the dorm looks like after that runway show we just had.

The interior was fairly large and we could see the kitchen through a doorway in the left corner of the room, behind the large couch that Isaac, Riku, Xion, and Tifa were sitting on. Aqua, Naminé, and Roxas were seated on the medium sized couch to the left of the large couch closest to the front door, and Kairi was sitting in a small chair to right of the larger couch, a pair of sliding doors behind her. We had entered through the front door that opened into a small hallway that led to the living room we were now situated in. A large flat screen TV hung on a wall on the far right side of the room. To our left was a stair case that led to the second story that spanned a long way across the top, many of the rooms were spaced out around the perimeter of the house, four in the center, five on the left, and five on the right. It was a pretty nice set up.

"Okay guys we'll let you get unpacked real quick and then you'll meet us back down here to meet your Dorm Overseers." Aqua told us.

We quickly went up to our rooms, our names already written on plaques, mine being the second from the center right. Kairi took the room next to me with Riku being on the far left closest to the left wall. Isaac was in the room closest to the right wall with Shin's room being adjacent from his. Terra was in the room next to Shin's and Xion was in the one next to hers. Tifa took the room on the far wall like Aqua did on the opposite side since they are our Dorm Advisors. Naminé was in the room adjacent from Riku and Roxas was next to her. The two rooms on the far ends of the walkways were the bathrooms.

Half an hour later, we met up in the living room to get ready to meet our Dorm Overseer.

"So who is our Dorm Overseer?" Roxas asked.

Tifa replied to Roxas' question by jumping off the balcony. "You actually have two. One is on a trip in another part of the galaxy, but the other is Sergeant Johnson's older brother."

The collective response to the reply was. "What?!" Yep, that about sums it up.

"You mean our Dorm Overseer is Mister Hell Jumper's older brother?" Riku replied with a cautious tone and fell onto the couch.

"Uh huh."

"Oh great, that means we're going to have to run drills morning, noon, and night." Kairi stated her frustrations as she took her place back in the chair and folded her arms.

"I'm sure he's not all bad." Naminé added.

"Older brothers can be tougher than the younger siblings." Very funny Xion. I know she aimed that mark at me. I tell one boyfriend that I'll cave his face in and she labels me for life.

"And other older brothers can be a real pain in the neck." Riku added which really makes me wonder exactly what kind of person Zack is.

"Times like this makes me glad I have an older sister and a brother figure." Roxas added. "I don't think I could put up with that on a daily basis."

"Cloud is the kind to let you do your thing." Tifa replied, I guess this Cloud guy is the brother figure Roxas was talking about. "Until you piss him off. That guy has a short temper." Uh oh.

"Not to mention the Giant Buster Sword he lugs around with him." Roxas, I fear for you.

"I'm still not sure I want to meet the older brother of the Sergeant." I commented. "He seems like he is type of guy to plant a grenade down your throat and make you run laps around campus before it explodes just because you looked at him funny." Every looked at me with wide surprised eyes. "What? Am I the only one that feels that way?" They didn't answer they were just staring at me. "Guys?" Xion pointed behind me and I instantly felt scared.

"Oh don't stop now." I heard a gruff voice say from behind me. I slowly craned my neck to look behind me, hoping that whoever was behind me wasn't who I was thinking. "You were just starting to earn brownie points." To my dismay I came face to face with a yellow sunglasses wearing Sergeant Avery Johnson. To add greater fear to my crawling skin, he was casually tossing a grenade in the air and catching it with one hand.

"Uh…" I squeaked out pathetically. The Sergeant smirked at my reaction. "How long have you been standing there sir?"

"The whole time." He replied nonchalantly.

"The whole time?" I echoed in a squeak.

"The _whole_ time recruit." He was still tossing the grenade and I was really starting to get scared. He looked up to the rest of the room and removed his yellow sunglasses. "I see the Good Fairies have paid your dorm a visit." He took note of our new cloths. "How would you like to test how durable those new threads are?" I really hope he doesn't mean the grenade.

"Don't scare them too much Avery." An even gruffer voice called from behind him and I felt the floor shake ever so slightly as the man stepped forward.

He was the same skin tone as the Sergeant, except he was a whole foot taller and much bigger in regards to muscle, he looked like a freaking body builder without looking like he needs to _stop_ going to the gym. His black hair was arranged in corn rows, like Isaac's except they were fully cornrows and didn't fall into dreadlocks and stopped at the top of his neck and had a well-kept goatee that connect to his side burns and hair. He wore an off-white vest with white fishnet over his torso, revealing his ripped chest, and had dog tags around his neck. His left arm had a rounded skull tattoo with extending flames off the back, that kind of resembled wings if you look at it right. He wore green combat pants and brown boots like the Sergeant. His most noticeable feature being that his right hand was robotic and fully articulated.

"Hey there newbies. The name's Barret Wallace. You've already met my brother."

"I'm guessing you're the Sergeant's older brother." I said as the man towered over me, still shaking in fear.

He looked down and me and gave an amused smile. "Nah, little man. I'm the youngest by a year." What?!

"I'm the oldest." Another voice called from behind Barret. The voice was more fatherly and laid back.

Another man with the same skin tone as Barret and Avery appeared from behind Barret. He was half a foot shorter than Barret and taller than Avery. His hair was in a flat top afro, not a voluminous afro, but it was still an afro none the less. He wore a lime green trench coat that stopped at the mid of his thigh and had large black cuffs, collars, folds on the front with lime green trimming and silver buttons, the left shoulder was colored a lemon yellow. Underneath was a white dress shirt unbuttoned on the top four buttons, tucked into his tan pants, and what appeared to be a black sleeveless under shirt that underlined his collar bone. He had a black belt and two black straps on his thighs that held up two holsters with oak handles and black metal. I know what kind of weapon he uses. And finally he had black boots with straps on the top.

"The names Sazh Katzroy. I'm one of your Dorm Overseers. John is on a vacation, but you'll meet him later I'm sure. He's the Astronomy and History teacher here and has a habit of just popping up." Sazh told us. "I hope my brothers haven't given you too much trouble." He told me as he moved closer.

"No sir." I replied noting the amused grin that Avery wore.

"Relax kid." Avery told me. He finally put the grenade away and alleviated any and all tension in the room. "I was only messing with you. And call me Avery when we aren't on missions." The three moved into the room and examined all of us.

"Pretty promising group this year." Barret said as he examined Riku, Shin, and Isaac. "They may make First Class in no time."

"Maybe, Barret." Avery replied examining Roxas, Naminé, and glancing back towards me. "But they still have a long way to go."

"I don't know about that Avery." Sazh commented. "They may surprise us." He stopped on a wall in between Terra, who was still trying to pet Fang, and Kairi. "What do you think little guy?" Who is he talking to?

"Cheep!" A little baby chocobo, no bigger than my palm, popped out of his afro. "The Chocobo agrees."

Terra turned around at the mention of a chocobo, her eyes gleaming with enchanted stars. "Did you say Chocobo?" She asked, looking at the small bird who just tilted its head in curiosity at the stars of wonder in Terra's eyes.

"Yes I did little lady." He reached his hand up and the chocobo jumped into his palm. "You want to hold him?"

"Yes!" She beamed and held out her hands.

The chocobo jumped into her hands and she gently pet the feathery chick. "You must be Terra. Aqua told me we had a student who loved chocobos." Sazh said with an amused smirk. Terra just continued to pet the bird, oblivious to the question. "I'm going to take that as a yes. Well, we have an opening at the stables. Dahj, Marlene, and Vanille could sure use a hand. If you're interested, then I could put you on the list. You'll be paid for your time of course."

Terra looked up with even bigger eyes. "Would I?"

"You'd have to keep your grades at a certain level." Aqua interjected. "But if you can handle it, then there should be no problem."

"Sign me up Mister Katzroy!" Terra replied without hesitation.

Sazh chuckled at Terra's enthusiasm. "Okay then Terra, and call me Sazh."

"Well if you're done introducing yourselves." Barret interrupted. "How about we head to the bar and grab a bite."

"Alright then, come on you lot, we can get to know each other on the way." Sazh replied and we left the Dorm.

* * *

We were on the faerie heading back to island across the way, the weather had let up slightly, but the rain was still coming down. Like I figured when we landed, it was more of a civilian layout rather than military. The sky was still cloudy and it was drizzling slightly, but the waves were calm enough to traverse.

"Yo spikes!" I heard Barret boom.

"Yes?" I turned to see him hand me a blue card. When I took it from him, the card flash white for a split second before dissipating and showing my name and picture on it.

"This is your SOLDIER card. It has you allowance on it and can be used at any shop throughout the galaxy. You will keep this card as long as you are enrolled at SOLDIER and you can get more money by doing missions… On the off chance a high school freshman gets sent on a mission. Even then they aren't dangerous and you will have an upperclassmen to escort you."

"Nice. How much is on it right now?" I asked.

"Since you guys passed the toughest test with the lowest number of members, you get two thousand Gil."

"Two thousand Gil?!" I exclaimed.

"Yep, don't spend it all in one place." Barret grinned and put me in a head lock that almost popped my head off like a zit.

Best. Day. EVER! Minus the head squeezing bit.

We arrived at a bazaar where cars were not able to travel, it was more of a board walk since it was by the beach. It was circular with a fountain in the center and had a variety of shops from a grocery store to a clothing store to a weapons shop. We were headed to a bar on the far end next to an item, weapon, and armor shop hybrid.

"Here we are!" Sazh exclaimed. "The Seventh Heaven." Written in cursive in red neon lights above the building read _Seventh Heaven_, just like Sazh said. "This is my own little piece of paradise. When I'm not looking over the chocobo or teaching classes, I'm here serving drinks and food."

"It looks fancy." I heard Naminé comment.

"Thanks Naminé, took me a few years to get it fixed up after the previous owner let it go to hell." Sazh eyed Barret out the corner of his eye.

"I already told you, it was like that when I got it." Barret replied with his hands raised.

"It may have been in a bad way when you got it, but it was your responsibility as a property owner to fix it up and maintain it." Avery chastised the muscled little brother.

"Not you too Avery." I could tell Barret was feeling outnumbered. For someone as built as him to be backing down from Sazh and Avery, those two must be tough.

"Well come on in guys and I'll give ya a full course meal." Sazh pushed open the oak framed glass doors by the golden bar drilled into the front. The interior was nice. What, too vague? Alright then, picture the fanciest restaurant that you've ever been in; seats by the windows in cubicles, low over hanging lights that varied between bright and dim settings depending on the time of day, wooden tables and leather seats, a bar with high standing stools and a stage on the far right of the restaurant.

"Wow. The restaurants back home look nothing like this." Naminé commented.

"Sazh spared no expense in setting this place up." Tifa told us. "He even employs students here to make a little extra Gil."

"Really?" Xion asked.

I quickly shot down her hopes. "You're too young to work in a bar Xion."

"Don't be a killjoy Sora." Xion whined.

"If I didn't say it, Squall would have."

"You two are no fun." There she goes pouting again.

"She could work here." Sazh said leading us to a large round table next to the stage. We sat down with the guys on one side and the girls on another. Fang was seated down next to the table.

"Really?" She asked with genuine interest.

"You can't handle any of the alcohol and you would have to leave from work before night rolls around. Other than that, she can work here no problem." Sazh replied leaning back in his chair. You would not think this mellow guy to be the older brother of Mr. T and Major Payne.

"There you go Sora. I can earn a little cash on the side to help fund this card that Barret gave me." Speaking of which, Barret and Avery were at the bar chatting to this girl with pink hair. She looked to be about the same age as Aqua and Tifa.

"Once you hit seventeen, then you'll be able to handle the alcoholic beverages when severing, or if you hit First Class. You still can't drink it, but you can serve it." Aqua commented.

"I do it all the time and I'm only nineteen." Tifa added.

"So, you guys want to talk about yourself a bit?" Sazh said. "I'm gonna be in charge of you for a while. Probably until your freshman year of college, if you plan to stay that long. We might as well get to know each other."

"Well you already know our names." Riku commented.

"And you've seen what we can do." Roxas added. "So we might as well talk about our personal lives I guess."

"How about our two mysterious dorm mates?" Tifa said pointing to Shin and Isaac.

They glanced up and looked at each other. They looked like they were silently discussing who was going to go first. They looked back to us and Isaac was the first to talk.

* * *

_Isaac's POV_

Looks like I have some explaining to do. Might as well start with the basics "The names Isaac Gospel. My Family calls me by my middle name, Moses. If they ever visit you know why." They nodded in understanding. "I think I mentioned earlier that I was blind didn't I?"

"Yes." Terra replied still holding the baby chocobo in her hands and petting it softly. "You said you learned a spell that can cure natural blindness and to my knowledge there is no such spell. At least not one that I have heard of."

"There isn't." I replied simply.

"Then how did you get your sight back?" Terra asked. They all had a decent look of confusion on their faces when I said it wasn't a spell.

I leaned back in my chair, my cloak draped over the seat and my arms exposed. "Let's see, how to best explain this without going into a class lecture." I tapped my finger on the table for a second before I leaned forward again. "Have you ever seen a movie called the Matrix?"

"Who hasn't?" Riku replied with a wave of his hand.

"Remember when Morpheus asked Neo what reality really is?"

"Yes?"

"He explained that every sensation of the body; Touch, Sight, Smell, Taste, and Hearing are just electrical signals interpreted by the brain. I can command lightning and channel it through my body. One day when I was eight, my Patriarch, err, my Grandfather, told me to try channeling the lightning through my eyes."

"That seems extremely dangerous." Sazh said.

"It was and it hurt… A lot. Sort of like having a hot rod shoved into my eye. It worked though, and the first thing I ever saw was my mother's face. Eight years and I finally knew what my mother looked like instead of having to guess from placing my hands on her face. I didn't even know what the color of my skin was until that day."

"That must have been horrible." Terra replied. "Just being hit with a darkness spell is scary by itself. Being blind must be horrible."

"Actually, it's a blessing. I never judged anyone by appearance so I was always honest. But the best part, is that I got an extra feature. A fun little side effect."

"What would that be?" Shin asked.

"I can see the life aura of anyone and anything that has ever existed. I call it my Aura Gaze."

"What does that even mean?" Shin asked skeptically. "You can tell if someone is good or evil?"

"Not necessarily, since that is entirely subjective. Where I come from, we don't even have a word for hero or villain."

"So if you can't tell if someone is good or evil, can you tell what kind of persona they are?" Sazh concluded.

"Yes, I can tell if someone is happy, sad, or angry just by looking at the shade of their color." They looked at me like I was crazy, I'm use to it by now. "I can see you're not really following. Okay, here's a good example. Shin's blade is a silver color whenever he draws it normally. That's because the color of his Aura is silver, I saw it in the simulation. If for some reason, his silver hue turns to more of a dull grey color, then he is not in a joking mood."

"That makes since." Shin said. "Dull silver means bored or serious."

"If for some reason it starts to drip, like the silver is being smelted, then he is probably pissed. If there isn't a variation of the color then, he would change to a different color to match."

"So you can literally judge a book by its cover." Kairi replied, with a twinge of bitterness. She's still upset from earlier, I'm sure.

I released a short ironic chuckle. "Not completely. I still make mistakes. That's why I've been using my Mortal Sight for the past five years. It lets me see everything the way everyone else sees it. Call it a…reality check."

"Is that why you yelled at me earlier?" The room fell silent at the remark. She just glared at me, waiting for my reply.

* * *

_Sora's POV_

Isaac met the challenging gaze of Kairi. Whatever he says next is going to determine how they interact for the next few months, I'm sure. "I yelled at you, because you were judging a people wrongfully and without any basis other than what was written in some old book. Nothing personal to you, just a little peeve I have." He leaned back in his chair and rested his arm on the back of it. "All because I made a mistake that came back to bite me in the rear."

"What was that?" Naminé asked.

He didn't respond for a while, he just sat there, probably remembering whatever it was he did.

"Isaac?"

"Probably a sensitive subject. It's understandable really, not everyone has a subject they can talk about freely."

"Whoa!" We all exclaimed when this eccentric guy in a brown trench coat and blue suit with red tie and white dress shirt and red converse suddenly appeared, his voice like that of a Northern English accent. Where did this guy even come from?

"Oh hi there! Didn't mean to scare you. Well~, I did mean to surprise you, but I didn't mean to scare you."

"Who are you?" Roxas asked with an understandable sense of confusion in his voice.

"John Smith, Doctor John Smith. I'm your Dorm Overseer along with Sazh." Okay, this guy is weird. "Anyway, how've you been Moses?" He must be someone close if he called Isaac by his middle name. They obviously aren't related. This guy was Caucasian with slightly spiky brunette hair. What happened next can only be described as a lightning round of banter.

"I've been well, Doctor. I'm just here to solve a problem back home." Isaac replied.

"Oh~, you're sister eh?" He relied with an _'I'm sorry to bring that up'_ look.

"Yeah."

"She's been like that for five years now. Your mother must be heart broken."

"She's been working with our clerics to help her ever since it happened."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. There wasn't much anyone could do."

"You'll find a way to help her. You're good at solving problems. Well~ not as good as me, but still good."

"Can someone explain what just happened?" I cut in feeling my head spin from the fast banter that was happening before us.

"Yeah! I still want to know who you are." Roxas added. "You just show up and start talking out of nowhere, you obviously know Isaac, but you haven't explained who you are."

"I thought I told you. I'm John Smith, though most just call me The Doctor, and I'm your Dorm Overseer and I didn't _'just show up out of nowhere.' _I walked through the front door." The Doctor replied pointing a thumb at the door and feigning what seemed like annoyance and child-like hurt, like Roxas had accused him of stealing.

"You're our Overseer?" Kairi asked.

"You better believe it little missy and I do say, you lot are fantastic you are. That was some test, I even helped Avery design it for you lot to take. Never imagined my own dorm would be the ones to take it and you were down a man! That's just _amazing_ it is, simply fantastic." Someone get a speedometer for this guy. I'm fairly certain his mouth just broke the speed limit.

"Why do I sincerely doubt that you are qualified to look after us?" Riku replied skeptically.

"Because I can single handedly teach every class at SOLDIER and still have time to grade the papers before dinner." He boasted excitedly and plopped down in the seat right next to Aqua. "So Shinryu or Shin or do you prefer Verus? Tell us a little about yourself. I already know a bit about Moses, but I have no idea about you and that fancy sword of yours." How is this guy such a fast talker and still so clear at the same time? He's like a squirrel on a caffeine drip.

"I don't even know what you said." Shin replied. "I'll just say that I prefer to be called Shin. I'm here to take Biology because I was saved by a Dragon."

"Oh~, a Dragon. Haven't seen one of those in a while, especially here on Resident. What kind of Dragon?" The Doctor asked leaning closer on the table.

"A Silver Rathalos."

"Oh~. Those are particularly ferocious. I wonder why it didn't just gobble you up and expel you into a dung pile." Gross.

"I don't know, just sorta happened. Ever since then, I wanted to study other creatures and figure out what makes them tick."

"I know that feeling." The Doctor added with an excited smile. "I can help tutor you if you like. I wrote the curriculum requirements for all the science courses just last night and it is going to get difficult later in the year."

"You wrote the curriculum requirements last night?" Riku replied with visible disbelief.

"Yeah~, I meant to do it this morning, but I just didn't feel like waking up so I wrote it from start to finish last night. Took about an hour to do really, even with the revisions." We just sat there staring at him blankly. The stuff this guy was saying is just too ludicrous to be even considered true, and the scary part is that we actually believed everything he was saying.

"You are unreal." Riku replied slouching in his chair.

"I get that a lot. So, Riku was it? You want to tell us a little about yourself? I hope you're nothing like your brother. He's a hard worker, just needs to focus a little more on his work and less on the girlies."

"For the last time! I'm nothing like him! I'm just here because Zack said it would be a _'good experience'_ and I would figure out what I want to do with my life." Riku replied defensively.

"Still undecided huh?"

"Pretty much." Riku huffed, probably tired from correcting everyone.

"You'll figure it out. Always happens in your high school years."

"I highly doubt that."

"Not with that attitude. Hikaris." Man this guy can bounce around. "Why are you here?"

"Well…" I started. "We are kind of here to avoid getting separated."

"Oh! What happened?" Doctor Smith asked with genuine concern.

"Our mother died last year in a ship explosion." Xion replied solemnly.

"What about your father?" Sazh added leaning forward, his voice like that of a caring parent.

"We don't know what happened to him. Mom never talked about it." I added.

"Your mother was the famous reporter Jinsei was she not? I worked with her on a couple of my trips out into the galaxy. I'm so sorry that she died." The Doctor replied.

"We still don't know what happened, just that it was out by Demon's Run and that she was investigating something."

"Maybe we'll find something out if we attend school here." Xion added.

"Maybe. But let's get off that depressing topic." Doctor Smith said, switching his tone from solemn to interested. "What do you want to do while you're here?"

"I'm thinking about being a pilot." I replied.

"And I want to be an Actress!" Xion beamed.

"Oh~, acting. I love acting, especially Shakespeare. I can help you two with your majors if you like."

"That would be nice Doctor Smith." I replied. Personally, I don't think taking piloting lessons from someone this wacky is the best idea.

"Please, just call me The Doctor, everyone else does. What about you Terra? Any reason why you are here?"

"Well, I would like to learn to control my magic a bit. Aside from that, I want to be a veterinarian." Terra replied still rubbing the chocobo, but stealing a glance at Fang who was curled into a ball next to Isaac.

"I can see that. Though you'll have a tough time with Fang. She doesn't even like me! Can you believe that? An animal that doesn't like my charismatic personality. I never thought I would meet one that wasn't trying to kill me." The Doctor replied pointing at himself for emphasis, I am seriously hoping that half the stuff he is saying is exaggerated.

"I'm going to keep trying though." Terra replied firmly.

"Good luck to you then. You'll need it with that one." The Doctor replied. "What about you Roxas? I saw your sister earlier. That shop of hers has really gotten popular."

"Aerith is doing fine Doctor. I told her about how I wanted to go into photography and she recommended SOLDIER since they would let me do hands-on field practice."

"Aerith couldn't have been righter if she was a teacher here. She has a lovely garden that is sure to help you on projects and I can get you some prime shots that no one else on camps can get without getting vaporized by a super nova."

"I'll…keep that in mind." Roxas replied hesitantly. I don't blame him, the Doctor seems more like a nutty professor.

"Finally is the Kokoros. I know your sister pretty well. She was my assistant for the longest time, then again she needed some lessons on math and her arts and craft."

"Doctor!" Aqua exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing they didn't already know. So what are you two here for?"

"Well, I'm here to be an artist." Naminé replied.

"Arts and crafts. Hopefully you'll do better than Aqua in that department. Her stick figures are nothing to brag about."

"Doctor!" Aqua replied. Aqua was getting flustered by now. "Why does everyone criticize my drawings? They're cute in a way."

"Because they are just too easy to make fun of." Tifa added with a teasing smirk.

"Anyway, I know a few talented artists who could help teach you a thing or two."

"Thank you Doctor, I'll look forward to meeting them." Naminé replied with a warm smile that I swear Roxas was trying his best not to ogle over.

"What about you Kairi? You look like you're here to get something done." The Doctor added with a point of his finger.

"…" Kairi didn't respond immediately. She just sat there for a moment not really acknowledging the question.

"Don't be shy now. You can tell me." The Doctor coaxed like he was prodding an infant.

"I'm just here to figure out what happened to the Savant and make sure it doesn't happen again."

"The Savant? That was the ship that got destroyed near the Andromeda Plane if I'm not mistaken. Nasty business, that was."

"A lot of people think it was the Celestials, others think it was the Space Pirates." Kairi replied, glancing at Isaac who was leaning back in his chair and petting Fang's fur.

"Which camp are you in?" The Doctor asked, though he seemed to somewhat challenge Kairi at the same time. Like he was probing her for an answer to something other than the question he was asking.

"I'm in the former." Kairi replied simply, shooting a glance towards Isaac.

"Is that so?" The Doctor asked again, almost as if he was playing guidance counselor.

"Yes." Kairi replied firmly.

The Doctor smirked and leaned back in his chair. "Then you will be in for one fantastic year." And that was it. That was all The Doctor said to Kairi's response and goal. No reprimanding and no arguments. "Now how about we get something to eat? You lot will be starting your first day of classes on Monday. So enjoy yourselves while you can."

"Hey Serah!" Sazh called to the pink haired girl tending the bar and Sazh's younger brothers. "A few drinks and something to eat for the newbies."

"Coming!" The girl came over and brought us some drinks. She was wearing a sleeveless white button up dress shirt under a white sleeveless jacket with a pink plaid pattern near the bottom. She had on a red plaid skirt with black stripes and black lace along the hem, black thigh high stockings and ivory high top converses. Her left arm had a black string ribbon tied on it and a black bangle on her right bicep and a silver necklace with a silver spiral shaped attachment with a blue crystal nestled in the top center. Her eyes were a deep blue and she had a very mature atmosphere to her. Her pink hair was tied into a long ponytail on the left side of her head and draped over her shoulder. I could barely see some black cat earrings hidden under her curly pink hair.

"Meet Serah Farron. She is a freshman in college like Aqua, an excellent archer. She works part time here with-"

"Sorry we're late!" A high pitched accented feminine voice called from the doors.

"Vanille…" Sazh finished, putting a hand on his forehead.

We looked to see a girl with bright, fire red hair and a pink halter top with orange and yellow skirt and a brown fur pelt around her waist. Her hair was tied into pig-tails and had a multilayered and multicolored tribal bead necklace that connected to a long single strand of beads that hung down over her torso. Now that I see her, she has a lot of beads hanging from her top and skirt. Her arms had a long of rings around her wrists of varying colors. She wore beige boots with a white fur on top of them.

"Daddy!" Two kids exclaimed causing Sazh and Barret to turn around.

Vanille was holding the hands of two very young children on either side of her. One looked like Sazh's son. He had on dusky pink overalls and a blue and green zipped up jacket underneath with a white polo shirt and brown boots. His overalls had a number of pockets and patches on them. I could tell he was Sazh's son because of the Afro he had on his head, I don't think Avery would let his son's hair grow that long and Barret looks like he would have his kids wear sleeveless shirts. The kid looked to be about six years old, barely out of second grade.

The other was a little Asian girl, about the same age as Sazh's son, brown hair braid in a long ponytail in the back and a bob cut in the front. She wore all white, a sleeveless white turtle neck and skirt with a floral design and white shoes with socks that matched her skirt design.

"Dahj!" Sazh said with an elated tone as he rose from the table and went to meet his son. The little Chocobo that Terra had been petting flew out of her hands and went to meet the boy too, landing in his growing afro. Sazh picked him up in a big fatherly hug.

"Marlene!" Barret commented and went to hug the…little girl? There is shenanigans afoot!

"Where did you go off to?" Sazh asked.

"We went to tend the Chocobos, Dad!" Dahj replied.

"Yeah, they were real nice to us and Miss Vanille let us ride around on them when we were done." Marlene added.

"Did she now?" Sazh said and eyed the red head.

"I walked with them while they rode on the Chocobos. The Chocobo looked like they enjoyed letting the kids ride on their backs." Vanille replied in her weird accented voice. "Oh! You must be Sazh's Dorm." Vanille replied when she noticed us. "My name is Vanille Dia Oerba." Gesundheit. "Though most people just call me Vanille, my name is kind of hard to pronounce." No kidding.

"We saw the test today Daddy!" Marlene added while sitting on Barret's shoulder.

"You guys were amazing! The glowing sword and the Behemoths were so cool!" Dahj added. "But Vanille covered our eyes near the end when Terra was fighting a Behemoth with a really big sword." He pouted as Sazh put him down.

"As she should have." Avery replied walking over from the bar with a cup of clear liquid in his hand. "It may be a simulation, but you two are too young to be exposed to that kind of violence."

"But Uncle Avery~!" Marlene and Dahj replied.

"No buts you two." Barret replied. "Your Uncle is right. Maybe when you're older you can watch the entire thing."

They pouted for moment, but then they replied. "Okay~."

"Now come over here and give your Uncle a hug." Avery said as he lowered to a crouching position and the two kids ran over and gave the soldier a hug.

"Now how about we get you something to eat." Vanille commented and went behind the bar. Sazh and Barret sat down at the table with us and we waited for something to eat.

"So Doctor, I noticed you changed again. Last time I saw you, you were wearing a long scarf and a hat." Isaac said.

"Well you see, a lot of things happened and I had quite the expansive wardrobe change since last you saw me. Even got a new nose." The Doctor pointed to his…nose? "Though I didn't become ginger. I really wanted to become ginger this time." What? "Maybe next time." What does that even mean?

"Is that so?" Isaac replied and Vanille came back with a tray of various foods.

"How about a toast to a fantastic and eventful school career?" The Doctor stated and raised his glass in the air.

"I'll drink to that!" Sazh exclaimed enthusiastically and raised his glass as well. We all joined in afterwards.

"To an eventful school year." We shouted and took a sip.


End file.
